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Epochs of American History
THE COLONIES
1 492 -1 750
BY
REUBEN GOLD THWAITES, LL.D.
EDITOR OK "JESUIT RELATIONS," "EARLY WESTERN TRAVELS," ETC
AUTHOR OF " FRANCE IN AMERICA," " FATHER MARgUETTE,"
*' HISTORIC WATERWAYS." ETC.
WITH FOUR MAPS AND
NUMEROUS BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Twenty-Sixth Impression
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK
PRAIRIE AVENUE &. 25TH STREET,- CHICAGO
LONDON, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1920
Copyright, 1890,
Y Charles J. Mills.
Copyright, 1S97,
By Longmans, Greex, and Co.
Copyright, 1910,
By Longmans, Green, and Co.
A II rights reserved.
First Edition, December, 1890.
Reprinted, September, 1891, February, 1S92, (Revised),
January arid August, 1893, December, 1893, (Revised),
August, 1894, October, 1895, J"'y> 1896, August, 1897,
(Revised), November, 1897, July, 1898, July, 1899,
April, 1900, January, 1901, October, 1901, August, 1902,
November, 1902, October, 1904, September, 1906,
May, 1908, June, 1910, (Revise^). October, 191 1,
June, 1913, June, 191S. September, 1917,
September, 1920.
EDITOR'S PREFACE.
V?9
In offering to the public a new History of the
United States, — for such the three volumes of the
Epochs of American History, taken together, are
designed to form, — the aim is not to assemble all
the important facts, or to discuss all the important
questions that have arisen. There seems to be a
place for a series of brief works which shall show the
main causes for the foundation of the colonies, for
the formation of the Union, and for the triumph of
that Union over disintegrating tendencies. To make
clear the development of ideas and institutions from
epoch to epoch, — this is the aim of the authors and
the editor.
Detail has therefore been sacrificed to a more
thorough treatment of the broad outlines ; events are
considered as evidences of tendencies and principles.
-' Recognizing the fact that many readers will wish to
go more carefully into narrative and social history, each
chapter throughout the Series will be provided with a
bibliography, intended to lead, first to the more com-
mon and easily accessible books, afterward, through
the lists of bibliographies by other hands, to special
works and monographs. The reader or teacher wil^
vi Editor* s Preface,
find a select list of books in the Suggestions a few
pages below.
The historical geography of the United States has
been a much-neglected subject. In this Series, there-
fore, both physical and political geography will re-
ceive special attention. I have prepared four maps
for the first volume, and a like number will appear
in each subsequent volume. Colonial grants were
confused and uncertain ; the principle adopted has
been to accept the later interpretation of the grants
by the EngUsh government as settling earlier ques-
tions.
To my colleague. Professor Edward Channing, I
beg to offer especial thanks for many generous sug-
gestions, both as to the scope of the work and as
to details.
ALBERT BUSHNELL HART
Cambridge, December i, 1890.
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
Upon no epoch of American history has so much
been written, from every point of view, as upon the
Thirteen Colonies. There has, nevertheless, been
lacking a book devoted especially to it, compact in
form, yet sufficiently comprehensive in scope at once
to serve as a text-book for class use and for general
reading and reference. The present work is intended
to meet that want.
In this book American colonization is considered
in the light of general colonization as a phase of his-
tory. Englishmen in planting colonies in America
brought with them the institutions with which they
had been familiar at home : it is shown what these
institutions were, and how, in adapting themselves to
new conditions of growth, they differed from English
models. As prominent among the changed condi-
tions, the physical geography of America and its
aboriginal inhabitants receive somewhat extended
treatment ; and it is sought to explain the important
effect these had upon the character of the settlers
and the development of the country. The social and
economic condition of the people is described, and
attention is paid to the political characteristics of the
several colonies both in the conduct of their local
affairs and in their relations with each other and the
viii Author's Preface.
mother-country. It is shown that the causes of the
Revolution were deep-seated in colonial history. At-
tention is also called to the fact, generally overlooked,
that the thirteen mainland colonies which revolted in
1776 were not all of the English colonial establishments
in America.
From Dr. Frederick J. Turner, of the University of
Wisconsin, I have had much advice and assistance
throughout the prosecution of the work ; Dr. Edward
Channing, of Harvard College, has kindly revised the
proof-sheets and made many valuable suggestions ; while
Dr. Samuel A. Green, librarian of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, has generously done similar service
on the chapters referring to New England. To all of
these gentlemen, each professionally expert in certain
branches of the subject, I tender most cordial thanks.
REUBEN GOLD THWAITES.
Madison, Wis., December i, 1890.
PREFACE TO TWENTY-SECOND EDITION.
From time to time there have been several revisions
of the text, so that it has been kept fairly abreast of
current investigation. The bibliographies, however,
have remained untouched since the tenth edition
(August, 1897). The principal change in the present,
therefore, consists in the introduction of new and care-
fully prepared references, which will render the book of
greater service to the student than it has been at any
time within the past ten years. In this revision, I have
had the valuable assistance of Miss Annie A. Nunns.
R. G. THWAITES.
Madison, Wis., June i, 1910.
SUGGESTIONS.
While this volume is intended to be complete in itself,
compression has been necessary in order to make it con-
form to the series in which it appears. It really is but
an outline of the subject, a centre from which to start
upon a study of the American colonies. The reader,
especially the teacher, who would acquire a fairly complete
knowledge of this interesting period of our history, will
need to examine many other volumes ; from them gaining
not only further information, but the point of view of other
authors than the present — only in this manner may an
historical perspective be obtained. The classified bibli-
ographies, given by the author at the head of each
chapter, have been prepared with much care. While
perhaps few will desire to follow the topics to the lengths
there suggested, it is urged that as many of the other
volumes as possible be consulted, particularly those con-
taining source material.
Following is a list of books which, even for a brief
study, would be desirable for reference and comparison,
or for the preparation of topics :
1-5. John Andrew Doyle: English Colonies in America.
5 vols. New York: H. Holt & Co., 1882-1907. — Ananalytical
study, in much detail, by an English author.
6-13. John Fiske: Beginnings of New England; The
Discovery of America^ 2 vols. ; Dutch and Quaker Colonies in
X Suggestions for Readers aftd Teachers.
America, 2 vols. ; New France and New England ; 0!d Vir-
ginia and her Neighbours, 2 vols. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin
& Co., 1897-1902. — The best popular accounts ; but while
eminently readable and inspiring, not sufficiently thorough at
all points, to serve as authoritative studies.
14. Henry Cabot Lodge: Short History of the English
Colonies i?t America. New York : Harper Brothers Co., 1881. —
Concise and readable.
15-17. Herbert Levi Osgood: American Colonies in the
jyth Century. 3 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1904-
1907. — The most elaborate treatment of this period, from the
American point of view.
If a detailed study is intended, the following volumes
should be added to the foregoing :
A. Bibliography.
1. Edward Channing and Albert Bushnell Hart : A
Guide to the Study of American History. Boston : Ginn & Co.,
1896. — A well-arranged manual for both students and general
readers.
2. JOSEPHUS Nelson Larned: Literature of American His-
tory. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1902. — More detailed
than the foregoing. Contains critical estimates of many of
the works cited, by experts in the several subjects.
B. General.
3-5. Elrov McKendree Avery : A History of the United
States and its People from their Earliest Records to the Present
Time. 15 vols. Cleveland: Burrows Brothers Co., 1904 -f. —
Volumes I.-HL cover the colonial period. Especially notable
for its illustrations — for the most part, reproductions of con-
temporary views, maps, portraits, and articles of historical
interest. The bibliographies are quite full.
List of Reference Books. xi
6, 7. Edward Channing: A History of the United States.
8 vols. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1905 -f-. — A calm,
philosophical treatise, written with care and erudition.
8-13. Albert Bushnell Hart, Editor : The American Nation.
New York: Harper Brothers Co., 1904-1907. — The latest
co-operative history of the United States. Each volume is by
an author who specializes in the topic treated. Vols. H.-VH.
are concerned with the colonial period. The bibliographical
chapters are very useful.
14, 15. WoODROW Wilson : A History of the American Peo-
ple. 5 vols. New York: Harper Brothers Co., 1902. — Pop-
ular and readable, often brilliant. Only vols. I. and II. cover
the colonial period.
16-20. Justin Win so R : Narrative and Critical History of
America. 8 vols. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1889.
— A co-operative enterprise, the chapters being by different
hands, for the most part specialists. There is a wealth of
illustrations, notes, and bibliographical references. But much
of the work has been superseded by later publications. Vols.
I.-V. cover the colonial period.
C. Special Histories.
21,22. Philip Alexander Bruce: Economic History of
Virginia in the ijth Century. 2 vols. New York : The Mac-
millan Co., 1896. — A careful, detailed study.
23. Philip Alexander Bruce : Social Life of Virginia in
the lyth Century. Richmond : Whittet & Shepperson, 1907. —
Thorough and clear.
24, 25. Sydney George Fisher : Men, Women, and Man-
ners in Colonial Times. 2 vols. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott
Co., 1898. — A readable and useful survey.
26. Frederick Webb Hodge : Handbook of American In-
dians north of Mexico. Washington: Smithsonian Institution,
1907. — The author, a member of the Ethnological Bureau, is
an authority on this subject.
xii Suggestions for Readers and Teachers.
27-38. Francis Parkman : France and England in North
America. 12 vols. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1851-1892.
The titles of volumes comprising this series are : Pioneers of
France in the New World; The Jesuits in North America;
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West ; The Old Re-
gime in Canada; Count Frontenac and New France; A Half-
Century of Conflict, 2 vols.; Montcalm and Wolfe, 2 vols. ;
The Conspiracy of Pontiac, 2 vols. — In spite of its age, this
work remains the principal authority for the thrilling story of
New France. A first-hand study, written in fascinating style.
39. Ellen Churchill Semple: Atnerican History and its
Geographic Conditions. Boston : Houghton, Mifiliin & Co.,
1903. — Of first importance in understanding the causes and
effects of the movements of population.
40. Cyrus Thomas : The Indians of North America in Hi ^
toric Times. Philadelphia: G. Barrie & Sons, 1903. — The
latest compendious treatment ; somewhat repellent in style,
but useful for reference. The author is a well-known
authority.
41,42. William Babcock Weeden : Economic and
Social History of New England, i620-i']8g. 2 vols. Boston.
Houghton, Mififlin & Co., 1890. — An admirably executed
work.
D. Sources.
43,44. Albert Bushnell Hart, Editor: Amt.ican
History Told by Cojitemporaries. 4 vols. New York : The
Macmillan Co., 1897, 1898. — Very useful for purposes of
illustration. Vols. I., IL, are devoted to colonial material.
45-64. John Franklin Jameson, Editor : Original Nar-
ratives of Early American History. 20 vols. New York :
Charles Scribner's Sons, 19064-. — Carefully edited, and in-
dispensable for first-hand study.
65 William MacDonald, Editor : Documentary Source
Book of American History^ i6o6-z8gS. New York: The Mac-
List of Reference Books, xiii
millan Co., 1908. — Useful reprints of material otherwise
difficult to obtain.
In addition to the above, the publications of colonial
and town record commissions and state and local histori-
cal and antiquarian societies contain material of the
utmost value in the study of our colonial history. Among
them may especially be mentioned the volumes issued by
the Prince Society, Gorges Society, American Antiqua-
rian Society, and the state historical societies of Massa-
chusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia; also the
colonial records of New Hampshire, Massachusetts,
New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE LAND AND THE NATIVE RACES.
PAGES
I. References, p. i. — 2. Physical characteristics of North
America, p. 2. — 3. The native races, p. 7. — 4. Char-
acteristics of the Indian, p. 13. — 5. Relations of
the Indians and colonists, p. 17 1-19
CHAPTER II.
DISCOVERIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS {I492-1606).
6. References, p. 20. — 7. Pre-Columbian discoveries, p. 21.
— 8. Early European discoveries (1492-1512), p, 23.
— 9. Spanish exploration of the interior (i 513-1542),
p. 27. — 10. Spanish colonies (1492-1687), p. 31. —
II. The French in North America ( 1 524-1 550), p. 32.
— 12. French attempts to colonize Florida (1562-
1568), p. 33. — 13 The French in Canada {1589-
1608), p. 35. — 14. English exploration (1498-1584),
p. 36. — 15. English attempts to coloniz*^ (1584-
1606), p. 38. — 16. The experience of the sixteenth
century ( 1 492-1 606), p. 42 „ . , 20-44
CHAPTER III.
COLONIZATION AND THE COLONISTS.
17. References, p. 45. — 18. Colonial policy of European
states, p. 45. — 19. Spanish and Portuguese policy,
p. 47. — 20. French policy, p. 48. — 21. Dutch and
Swedish policy, p. 50. — 22. English policy, p. 51. —
xvi Prelimina7'y, The South,
PAGES
23. Character of English emigrants, p. 53. — 24.
Local government in the colonies, p. 55. — 25. Colo-
nial governments, p 58. — 26. Privileges of the
colonists, p. 61 . 45-63
CHAPTER IV. '
THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH (1606-I7OO).
27. References, p. 64. — 28. Reasons for final English
colonization, p. 65. — 29. The charter of 1606, p. 66.
— 30. The settlement of Virginia ( 1607-1624), p. 69.
— 31. Virginia during the English revolution (1624-
1660), p. 75. — 32. Development of Virginia (1660-
1700), p. 78. — 33. Settlement of Maryland (1632-
1635), p. 81. — 34. Maryland during the English
revolution (1642-1660), p. 84. — 35. Development
of Maryland (1660-1715), p. 86. — 36. Early settlers
in the Carolinas (i 542-1665), p. 87. — 37. Pro-
prietorship of the Carolinas (1663-1671), p. 89.—
38. The two settlements of Carolina (1671-1700),
p. 92 64-95
CHAPTER V.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE SOUTH
IN 1700.
39. References, p. 96. — 40. Land and People in the
South, p. 96. — 41. Slavery and servants, p. 98 —
42. Middle and upper classes, p. 100. — 43. Occu-
pations, p. 102. — 44. Navigation Acts, p. 104. —
45. Social life. p. T06. — 46. Political life, and con-
clusions, p. 109 96-11 1
CHAPTER VL
THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND (162O-1643).
47. References, p. 112. — 48. The New England colonists,
p. 1 13. — 49. Plymouth colonized ( 1620-1621 ), p. 1 16.
Contents, xvii
PAGES
— 50. Development of Plymouth ( 1 621-169 1 ), p. 120.
— 51. Afassachusetts founded (1630), p. 124. — 52.
Government of Massachusetts (1630-1634), p. J27.
— 53J Internal dissensions in Massachusetts (1634-
1637), p. 129. — 54. Religious troubles in Massachu-
setts {1636-1638), p. 132. — 55. Indian wars (1635-
1637), p. 136. — 56. Laws and characteristics of
Massachusetts, (1637-1643), p. 137. — 57. Connecti-
cut founded (1633-1639), p. 140. — 58. The Con-
necticut government (1639-1643), p. 142. — 59. New
Haven founded (1637-1644), p. 144. — 60. Rhode
Island founded (1636-1654), p. 146. — 61. Maine
founded (1622-1658), p. 150. — 62. New Hampshire
founded (1620-1685), p. 152 1 12-153
CHAPTER VII.
NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 '^^ I7OO.
63. References, p. 154. — 64. New England confederation
formed (1637-1643), p. 154. — 65. Workings of the
confederation (1643-1660), p. 157. — 66. Disturb-
ances in Rhode Island (1641-1647), p. 159. — 67.
Policy of the confederation (1646-1660), p. 161. —
68. Repression of the Quakers (1656-1660), p. 165.
— 69. Royal commission (1660-1664), p. 166. — 70.
Indian wars (1660-1678), p. 170. — 71. Territorial
disputes ( 1 649-1 685), p. 173. — 72. Revocation of
the charters (1679-1687), p. 174. — ']y Restoration
of the charters (1689-1692), p. 176 ..... 154-177
CHAPTER VIII.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NEW ENGLAND
IN 1700.
74. References, p. 178. — 75. Land and people, p. 179.—
76. Social classes and professions, p. 181. — 77. Oc-
cupadons, p. 184. — 78. Social conditions, p. 186.—
xviii New England. Middle Colo7iies,
PAGES
79. Moral and religious conditions, p. 188. — 80.
The witchcraft delusion, p. 190. — 81. Political con-
ditions, p. 192 I78--I94
CHAPTER YX.
THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE COLONIES (1609-I7OO).
82. References, p. 195. — 83. DuU',h settlement (1609-
1625), p. 196. — 84. Progress of New Netherland
(1626-1664), p. 198. — 85. Conquest of New Neth-
erland (1664), p. 202. — 86. Development of New
York (1664-1700), p. 203. — 87. Delaware (1623-
1700), p. 207. — 88. New Jersey (1664-1738), p. 210.
'^-89. Pennsi^lvania (1681-1718), p. 215. . . 195-217
CHAPTER X.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE MIDDLE
COLONIES IN 1700.
90. References, p. 218. — 91. Geographical conditions in
the middle colonies, p. 218. — 92. People of the
middle colonies, p. 220. — 93. Social classes, p. 222.
— 94. Occupations, p. 224. — 95. Social life, p, 226.
— 96. Intellectual and moral conditions, p. 229. —
97. Political conditions, and conclusion, p. 231 . 218-232
CHAPTER XI.
OTHER ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES (1605-I750).
98. References, p. 233. — 99. Outlying English colonies,
p. 234. — 100. Windward and Leeward Islands
(1605-1814), p. 236. — loi. Bermudas (1609-1750)
and Bahamas (1522-1783), p. 238. — 102. Jamaica
(1655-1750), p. 240. — 103. British Honduras (1600-
1798), p. 241. — 104. Newfoundland {1497-1783),
p. 241. — 105. Nova Scotia, Acadia (1497-1755),
p. 242. — 106. Hudson's Bay Company, p. 243 . 233-244
\
Contents xix
CHAPTER XII.
PAGES
THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE (1608-1750).
107. References, p. 245. — 108. Settlement of Canada
(1608-1629), p. 246. — 109. Exploration of the
Northwest (1629-1699), p. 247. — no. Social and
political conditions, p. 249. — in. Intercolonial
wars (1628-1697), p. 252. — 112. Frontier wars
(1702-1748), p. 254.— 113. Territorial claims, p. 255.
— 114. Effect of French colonization, p, 257 . 245-257
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA (1732-1755).
115. References, p. 258. — 116. Settlement of Georgia
(1732-1735), p. 258. — 117. Slow development of
Georgia (1735-1755). p. 261 258-263
, CHAPTER XIV.
THE CONTINENTAL COLONIES FROM I7OO TO I750.
118. References, p 264. — 119. Population (1700-1750),
p 265. — 120. Attacks on the charters (1701-1749),
p. 266. — 121. Settlement and boundaries (1700-
1750), p. 267. — 122. Schemes of colonial union
(1690-1754), p. 269. — 123. Quarrels with royal
governors (1700-1750), p. 271. — 124. Governors
of southern colonies, p. 272. — 125. Governors of
middle colonies, p. 273. — 126. Governors of New
England colonies, p. 275. — 127. Effect of the French
wars (1700-17 50), p. 277. — 128. Economic condi-
tions, p. 278. -t- 129. Political and social conditions
(1700-1750), p. 280. — 130. Results of the half-cen-
tury (i 700-1750), p. 282 264-284
Index . ^ . « 285
XX List of Maps.
LIST OF MAPS.
1. Physical Features of the United States . . . Frontispiece.
2. North America, 1650 EndofvoUime.
3. English Colonies in North America^ 1700 . End of volume.
4. North America, 1750 End of volume.
EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY.
THE COLONIES.
1492-1750.
CHAPTER I.
THE LAND AND THE NATIVE KACES.
1. References.
Bibliographies. — L. Farrand, Basis of American History,
ch. xviii.; J. Larned, Literature of American History, 21-50;
J. Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, I., II,; Channing and
Hart, Guide, §§ 21, 77-80; C. Lummis, Reading List on Indians.
Historical Maps. — No. i, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. i);
T. MacCoun, Historical Geography of United States; school his-
tories of Channing, Elson, Gordy, James and Sanford, Mace,
McLaughlin, McMaster, and Montgomery,
General Accounts. — Historical significance of geography of
the United States: H. Mill, International Geography, ch, xxxix.;
F, Ratzel, Vereinigte Staaten, I, ch. ii.; B. Hinsdale, How to
Study and Teach History, ch. xiv,; E. Bogart, Economic History
of United States, introduction; E. Semple, American History and
its Geographic Conditions ; A. Brigham, Geographic Influences in
American History; W. Scaife, America: its Geographical His-
tory. — Topographical descriptions of the country: J, Whitney,
United States, I. pt, i.; N. Shaler, United States, I., and Nature
and Man in America; Mill, as above; E. Reclus, North America,
III.; Hinsdale, as above, ch. xv, — Prehistoric Man in America*
L. Morgan, Ancient Society; J. Nadaillac, Prehistoric America;
J. Foster, Prehistoric Races; Winsor, as above, I. ch. vi.; E.
Avery, United States and its People, I. chs. i., ii.; Farrand, as
above, ch. v. — The Indians (or Amerinds): D. Brinton, Ameri-
can Race; C, Thomas, Indians in Historic Times; F. Hodge,
2 Land a7id Aborigines, [Ch. I.
Handbook of American Indians; Farrand, as above, chs. vi.-
xvili.; Avery, as above, I. ch. xxii.; F. Dellenbaugh, North
Americans of Yesterday; S. Drake, Aboriginal Races of America;
G, Ellis, Red Man and White Man in North America; G. Grin-
nell, Story of the Indian. The introduction to F. Parkman, Jesuits
in North America, and his Conspiracy of Pontiac, I. ch. i., are ad-
mirable general surveys. Briefer, also excellent, is J. Fiske's Dis-
covery of America, I. ch. i. The mound-builders have now been
identified as Indians. L. Carr, Mounds of the Mississippi Valley
Historically Considered is the best exposition of this subject. C.
Thomas, Catalogue of Prehistoric Works East of the Rocky Moun-
tains is useful.
Special Histories. — Larned, History for Ready Reference, I.
83-115, gives brief account and bibliographies of tribes; Farrand,
as above, 279-286, does the same by geographical groups. Espe-
cially notable are L. Morgan, League of the Iroquois, and C. Colden,
Five Indian Nations. For detailed treatment of the aborigines of
that section, consult H. Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific
Coast, II., and Mexico, I.; J. Palfrey, New England, I. chs. i., ii.,
describes the Indians in that region; T. Roosevelt, Winning of the
West, I. chs. iii., iv., the Southern tribes; and Parkman, Pontiac,
the old Northwest tribes. There are numerous biographies of
chiefs, and a considerable literature on border warfare.
2. Physical Characteristics of North America.
Whence came the native races of America? Doubt-
less the chain of Aleutian islands served as stepping-
stones for straggling bands of Asiatics to cross over
Origin of the '^"^^^ Continental Alaska many centuries ago;
native races, others may have traversed the ice-bridge of
Bering's Strait ; possibly prehistoric vessels from China,
Japan, or the Malay peninsula were blown upon our
shores by westerly hurricanes, or drifted hither upon the
ocean currents of the Pacific. There are striking simi-
larities between the flora on each shore of the North
Pacific ; and the Eskimos of North America, like the
Ch. I.] The Pacific Slope, 3
West-Slope Indians of South America, have been thought
to exhibit physical resemblances to the Mon-
ter of conjee- gols and Malays. On the other hand, some
ture. archaeologists hold that men as far advanced as
the present Eskimos followed the retreating ice-cap of the
last glacial epoch. In the absence of positive historical
evidence, the origin of the native peoples of America is
a mere matter of conjecture.
North America could not, in a primitive stage of the
mechanic arts, have been developed by colonization on
Difficulties any considerable scale from the west, except
^lonixom' ^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ difficulties almost insuperable,
the west. The Pacific coast of the country is dangerous
to approach ; steep precipices frequently come down
to the shore, and the land everywhere rises rapidly
from the sea, until not far inland the broad and mighty
wall of the Cordilleran mountain system extends from
north to south. That formidable barrier was not scaled
by civilized men until modern times, when European
settlement had already reached the Mississippi from the
east, and science ha(;i stepped in to assist the explorers.
At San Diego and San Francisco are the only natural
harbors, although Puget Sound can be entered from the
extreme north, and skilful improvements have in our day
made a good harbor at the mouth of Columbia River.
The rivers of the Pacific Slope for the most part come
noisily tumbling down to the sea over great cliffs and
through deep chasms, and cannot be utilized for progress
far into the interior.
The Atlantic seaboard, upon the other hand, is broad
The Atlantic and inviting. The Appalachian range lies for
the^natm-al the most part nearly a hundred miles inland,
approach to 'pj^g gentlv slopiufi: coast abounds in inden-
North Am- r i i
erica. tations, — Safe harbors and generous land-
Jocked bays, into which flow numerous rivers of coiv
4 Land and Ahorighics, [Ch. L
siderable breadth and depth, by means of which the
land can be explored for long distances from tide-water.
By ascending the St. Lawrence and the chain of the
Great Lakes, the interior of the continent is readily
The river reached. Dragging his craft over any one of
system. g. half-dozen easy portages in Wisconsin, Illi-
nois, Indiana, or Ohio, the canoe traveller can emerge
into the Mississippi basin, by means of whose far-stretch-
ing waters he is enabled to explore the heart of the New
World, from the Alleghanies to the Rockies, from the
Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. A carrying trail, at
the headwaters of the Missouri, will lead him over to
tributaries of the Columbia, whereby he gains access
to the Pacific slope ; while by another portage of a few
miles in length, from Pigeon River to Rainy River, he
is given command of the vast basin of Hudson Bay, —
a labyrinth of waterways extending northward to the
Arctic Ocean, and connected by still other portages
with the Pacific. The Hudson River and Lakes George
and Champlain form a natural highway from the St.
Lawrence southward to the ocean. By the Mohawk
and a short carrying-place, the Hudson was from early
times connected with the Great Lakes. The Potomac,
the Susquehanna, the Roanoke, and other Southern
rivers can be traced northwestward to their sources in
the mountains ; and hard by are the headwaters of west-
^, . flowins: feeders of the Mississippi. The Appa-
The Appa- , , . ^ . /• i •
lachian val- lachian mountains run for the most part m
ley system, p^j-allel ridges northeast and southwest; and
their valley system, opening out through the Cumberland
Gap upon the Kentucky prairies and the valleys of the
Ohio basin, also affords a comparatively easy highway
from the Atlantic sea-coast to the interior.
Thus with the entrance of North America facing the
east, and with Europe lying but little more than one half
Ch. I-I The Atlantic Slope. 5
the distance from Boston that Asia lies from San Fran
Cisco, it was in the order of things that from the east
should have come the people who were to settle and civil-
ize the New World. Colonists could on this side of the
continent found new commonwealths, yet at the same
An inviting time easily maintain their connection with the
Afy1in°colo- fatherland. The march of Aryan emigration
nization. has ever been on lines little diverging from
due east or west. It is fortunate that the geographical
conditions of North America were such as to make her
an inviting field for the further migration of the race.
The Atlantic border may be considered as the thresh-
old of the continent. It was among its dense, gloomy
forests of hard wood and pine that European nations
planted their colonies ; here those colonies grew into
States, which were the nucleus of the American Union.
The Appalachians are not high enough seriously to affect
the climate or landscape of the region. Their flanks
slope gradually down to the sea, furrowed by rivers
which from the first gave character to the colonies. In
^ . . New Eno^land, where there is an abundance of
Ueographi- o »
cal charac- good harbors, the coast is narrow and the
New Eng- Streams are short and rapid, with stretches of
land; navigable water between the waterfalls which
turn the wheels of industry for a busy, ingenious, and
thrifty people. The long, broad rivers of the South.
and of the Aowing lazily through a wide base-plain, the
South. coast of which furnishes but little safe an-
chorage, served as avenues of trafiic for the large, iso-
lated colonial estates strung along their banks ; the
Three grand ^^tocratic planters taking pleasure in having
natural di- ports of entry at their doors. The Hudson
Atlantic and the Potomac lead far inland, — paths to
slope. ^j^g water ways of the interior, — and divide
the Atlantic slope into three grand natural divisions, the
6 La7id and Aborigines. [Ch. I.
New England, the Middle, and the Southern, in which
grew up distinct groups of colonies, having quite a
different origin, and for a time but few interests in com-
mon. The Appalachian mountains and their foot-hills
Extractive abound in many places in iron and coal ; works
industries. fQj. ^j-jg smelting of the former were erected
near Jamestown, Virginia, as early as 1620, and early in
the eighteenth century the industry began to be of con-
siderable importance in parts of New England, New
York, and New Jersey ; but the mining of anthracite
coal was not commenced until 1820. The soil
of the Atlantic border varies greatly, being
much less fertile in the North than in the South; but
nearly everywhere it yields good returns for a proper
expenditure of labor. The climate is subject
to frequent and extreme changes. At about
30*^ latitude the mean temperature is similar to that on
the opposite side of the Atlantic ; but farther north the
American climate, owing to the divergence of the Gulf
Stream and the influence of the great continent to the west,
is much colder than at corresponding points in Europe.
The rainfall along the coast is everywhere sufficient.
Beyond the Appalachian mountain wall, the once
heavily forested land dips gently to the Mississippi;
The Missis- then the land rises again, in a long, treeless
sippi basin, swell, up to the foot of the giant and pic-
turesque Cordilleras. The isothermal lines in this great
central basin are nearly identical with those of the
Atlantic coast. The soil east of the 105th meridian west
from Greenwich is generally rich, sometimes extremely
fertile; and it is now agreed that nearly all the vast
arid plains to the west of that meridian, formerly set
The Pacific down as desert, needs only irrigation to blos-
•lope. sQj^ as the rose. The Pacific slope, narrow
and abrupt, abounds in fertile, pent-up valleys, with some
Ch. I.] An Aryan Stronghold. 7
of the finest scenery on the continent and a climate
everywhere nearly equal at the same elevation ; the
isothermal lines here run north and south, the lofty
mountain range materially influencing both climate and
vegetation.
There is no fairer land for the building of a great
nation. The region occupied by the United States is
particulaj-ly available for such a purpose.
Summary. T^rr -i rj- •.-i-
It offers a wide range of diversity in climate
and products, yet is traversed by noble rivers which inti-
mately connect the North with the South, and have been
made to bind the East with the West. It possesses in
the Mississippi basin vast plains unsurpassed for health,
fertility, and the capacity to support an enormous
population, yet easily defended ; for the great outlying
mountain ranges, while readily penetrated by bands of
adventurous pioneers, and though climbed by railway
trains, might easily be made serious obstacles to invading
armies. The natural resources of North America are
apparently exhaustless; we command nearly every North
American seaport on both oceans, and withal are so
isolated that there appears to be no necessity for " entang-
ling alliances " with transatlantic powers. The United
States seems permitted by Nature to work out her own
destiny unhampered by foreign influence, secure in her
position, rich in capabilities. Her land is doubtless
destined to become the greatest stronghold of the Aryan
race.
3. The Native Races.
When Europeans first set foot upon the shores of
America it was found not only that a New World had
Theabori- ^^^^ discovered, but that it was peopled by
gines. a race of men theretofore unknown to civ-
ilized experience. The various branches of the race
differed greatly from each other in general appearance
8 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. I.
and in degrees of civilization, and to some extent were
settled in latitudinal strata; thus the reports concerning
them made by early navigators who touched at dif-
ferent points along the coast, led to much confusion in
^. . ., , European estimates of the aborigines. We
Divisible \ . -I ,
into two now know that but one race occupied the
divisions. j^^^^ £^Q^^ Hudson Bav to Patagonia. Leav-
ing out of account the Carib race of the West Indies,
the portion resident in North and Central America may
be roughly grouped into two grand divisions : —
I. The semi-civilized peoples represented by the sun-
worshipping Mexicans and Peruvians, who had attained
Mexicans, particular efficiency in architecture, road-
Peruvians, making:, and fortification, acquired some knowl-
Pueblos, *' -^ .
Cliff-Dwell- edge of astronomy, were facile if not elegant
Indians of in sculpture, practised many handicrafts, but
M?^?rT^ ' appear to have exhibited little capacity for
valley. further progress. Their government was pa-
ternal to a degree nowhere else observed, and the peo-
ple, exercising neither political power nor individual
judgment in the conduct of many of the common
affairs of life, were helpless when deprived of their
native rulers by the Spanish conquerors, Cortez and
Pizarro. Closely upon the border of this division, both
geographically and in point of mental status, were the
Pueblos and Cliff-Dwellers of New Mexico, Arizona, and
Southern California, — the occupants of the country
around the head-waters of the Rio Grande and Gila
rivers, and of the foot-hills of the Desert Range. These
people, like the Mexicans, hved in great communal
dwellings of stone or sun-dried brick, and were also sun-
worshippers. They made crude cloth and pottery, and
irrigated and cultivated large tracts of arid land, but
were inferior as fighters, and occupied a mental plane
considerably below the Mexicans. Allied in race and
Ch. I.J The Algonquians. 9
similar in acquirements were the tribes inhabiting the
lower Mississippi valley, the Natchez and perhaps other
tribes lying farther to the east.
II. The natives of North America, called Red
Indians, — a name which perpetuates the geographical
The Red error of Columbus, and has given rise to an
if North erroneous opinion as to their color — occupied
America. a Still lower plane of civilization. Yet one
must be cautious in accepting any hard-and-fast classi-
fication. The North Americans presented a consider-
able variety of types, ranging from the Southern Indians,
some of whose tribes were rather above the Caribs in
material advancement, and quite superior to them in
mental calibre, down to the Diggers, the savage root-
eaters of the Cordilleran region.
The migrations of some of the Red Indian tribes were
frequent, and they occupied overlapping territories, so
that it is impossible to fix the tribal boundaries with any
degree of exactness. Again, the tribes were so merged
by intermarriage, by affiliation, by consolidation, by the
fact that there were numerous polyglot villages of rene-
gades, by similarities in manner, habits, and appearance,
that it is difficult even to separate the savages into
Philological families. It is only on philological grounds
Redhidiaii ^^^'^t these divisions can be made at all. In a
tribes. general way we may say that between the
Atlantic and the Rockies, Hudson Bay and the Gulf
of Mexico, there were four Indian languages in vogue,
with great varieties of local dialect.
I. The Algonquians were the most numerous, holding
the greater portion of the country from the unoccupied
The Aif^on- " debatable land " of Kentucky norchward to
quians. Hudson Bay, and from the Atlantic westward
to the Mississippi. Among their tribes were the Nar-
ragansetts and Mohicans. These savages were '-ude
lO Land a7id Aborigines. [Ch. I.
in life and manners, were intensely warlike, depended for
subsistence chiefly on hunting and fishing, lived in rude
wigwams covered with bark, skins, or matted reeds, prac-
tised agriculture in a crude fashion, and were less stable
in their habitations than the Southern Indians. They
have made a larger figure in our history than any other
family, because through their lands came the heaviest
and most aggressive movement of white population.
Estimates of early Indian populations necessarily differ,
in the absence of accurate knowledge, but it is now
known that the numbers were never so great as was at
first estimated. The colonists on the Atlantic seaboard
found a native population much larger than elsewhere
existed, for the Indians had a superstitious, almost a
romantic, attachment to the seaside , and fish-food
abounded there. Back from the waterfalls on the Atlantic
slope, — in the mountains and beyond, — there were large
areas destitute of inhabitants; and even in the nominally
occupied territory the villages were generally small and
far apart. A careful modern estimate is that the Algon-
kins at no time numbered over ninety thousand souls, and
possibly not over fifty thousand.
II. In the heart of this Algonquian land was planted
an ethnic group called the Iroquois, with its several dis-
The Iro- tinct branches, often at war with each other,
quois. 'phg craftiest, most daring, and most intelli-
gent of Red Indians, yet still in the savage hunter
state, the Iroquois were the terror of every native band
east of the Mississippi, and eventually pitted themselves
against their white neighbors. The five principal tribes
of this family — Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cay-
ugas, and Senecas, all stationed in paliisaded villages
south and east of Lakes Erie and Ontario — formed a
loose confederacy, styled by themselves " The Long
House," and by the whites " The Five Nations," which
Ch. I.] Iroquois y Sioux ^ etc. 1 1
firmly held the waterways connecting the Hudson River
and the Great Lakes. The population of the entire
group was not over seventeen thousand, — a remark-
ably small number, considering the active part they
played in American history, and the control which
they exercised over wide tracts of Algonquian terri-
tory. Later they were joined by the Tuscaroras from
North Carolina, and the confederacy was thereafter known
as " The Six Nations.''
in. The Southern Indians occupied the country be-
tween the Tennessee River and the Gulf, the Appalachian
The South- ^^-i^ges and the Mississippi. They were di-
em Indians, vided into five lax confederacies, — the Cher-
okees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles.
Of a milder disposition than their Northern cousins, they
were rather in a barbarous than a savage state. The
Creeks, in particular, had good intellects, were fair ag-
riculturists, and quickly adopted many mechanic and
rural arts from their white neighbors ; so that by the
time of the Revolution they were not far behind the small
white proprietors in industrial or domestic methods. In
the Indian Territory of to-day the descendants of some
of these Southern Indians are good farmers and herds-
men, with a capacity for self-government and shrewd
business dealing. It is not thought that the Southern
tribes ever numbered above fifty thousand persons.
IV. The Dakotah, or Sioux, family occupied for the
most part the country beyond the Mississippi. They
The Da- were and are a fierce, high-strung people, are
kotahs. genuine nomads, and war appears to have
been their chief occupation. Before the advent of the
Spaniards they were foot-wanderers ; but runaway horses
came to them from Mexico and from the exploring ex-
peditions of Narvaez, Coronado, and De Soto, and very
early in the historic period the Indians of the far western
12 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. L
plains became expert horsemen, attaining a degree of
equestrian skill equal to that of the desert-dwelling
Arabs. Outlying bands of the Dakotahs once occu-
pied the greater part of Wisconsin and northern Illinois,
and were, it is believed by competent investigators, one
of the various tribes of mound-builders. Upon with-
drawing to the west of the Mississippi, they left behind
them one of their tribes, — the Winnebagoes, — whom
Nicolet found (1634) resident on and about Green Bay
of Lake Michigan, at peace and in confederacy with the
Algonquians, who hedged them about. Other trans-Mis-
sissippi nations there are, but they are neither as large
nor of such historical importance as the Dakotahs.
The above enumeration, covering the territory south of
Hudson Bay and east of the Rocky Mountains, embraces
those savage nations with which the white
colonists of North America have longest been
in contact. North and west of these limits were and are
other aboriginal tribes of the same race, but materially
differing from those to whom allusion has been made, as
well as from each other, in speech, stature, feature, and
custom. These, too, lie, generally speaking, in ethno-
logical zones. North of British Columbia are the fish-
eating and filthy Hyperboreans, including the Eskimos
and the tribes of Alaska and the British Northwest.
South of these dwell the Columbians, — the aborigines
of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, — a some-
what higher type than the Hyperboreans, but much
degenerated from contact with whites. The Californians
are settled not only in what is now termed California, but
stretch back irregularly into the mountains of Oregon,
Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
Ch. I.] Indian Characteristics^ 13
4. Characteristics of the Indian.
But of all the North American tribes, our interest in
this book is with the traditional Red Indian, — the savase
of eastern North America, the crafty forest warrior whom
our fathers met on landing, and whose presence so ma-
terially shaped the fortunes of the colonies.
First of all, the Indian was a hunter and fisherman.
As such, his life was a struggle for existence. Enemies
Th I d' ^^^^ ^° ^^ driven from the tribe's hunting-
as a hunter grounds, but the game-preserves of other
tribes were invaded when convenient, and this
led to endless feuds. War was not only a pastime, but
a necessity in the competition for food. Villages were
as a consequence almost invariably built at vantage
points, — at inlets of the sea, at waterfalls, on command-
ing banks of lakes and rivers, on portage paths between
the headwaters of streams, and at river junctions.
Hence we find that many, if not most, of the early
white towns, built before railways were introduced, are
on sites originally occupied by Indian villages.
The political organization of the Indians was weak.
The villages were little democracies, where one warrior
held himself as good as another, except for the deference
Political naturally due to headmen of the several clans,
organization, or to those of reputed wisdom or oratorical
ability. There was a sachem, or peace-chief, hereditary
in the female line, whose authority was but shght, unless
aided by natural gifts which commanded respect. In
times of war the fighting men ranged themselves as volun-
teers under some popular leader, — perhaps a permanent
chief ; sometimes a warrior without titular distinction.
Much which appears in the early writings about the
power and authority of " nobles," " kings," and " emper-
ors " among the red men was fanciful, the authors falling
14 Land ay id Aborigines. [Ch. I.
into the error of judging Indian institutions by Old World
standards. Around the village council-fires all warriors
had a right to be heard ; but the talking was chiefly done
by the privileged classes of headmen, old men, wise men,
and orators, who were also selected as the representatives
of villages in the occasional deliberative assemblies of
the tribe or confederacy. The judgment of such a coun-
cil could not bind the entire village, tribe, or confederacy ;
any one might refuse to obey if it pleased him. It was
seldom that an entire tribe united in an important enter-
prise, still more unusual for several tribes to stand by
each other in adversity. It was this weakness in organi-
zation, — inherent in a pure democracy, — combined with
their lack of self-control and steadfastness of purpose,
and with the ever-prevailing tribal jealousies, which
caused Indians to yield before the whites, who better
understood the value of adherence in the face of a com-
mon foe. Here and there in our history we shall note
some formidable Indian conspiracies for entirely dispos-
sessing the whites, — such as the Virginia scheme (1622),
King Philip's uprising (1675), and the Pontiac war (1763).
They were the work of native men of genius who had
the gift of organization highly developed, but who could
not find material equal to their skill ; hence these
uprisings were short-lived.
The strength of the Indian as a fighter lay in his
capacity for stratagem, in his ability to thread the tangled
The Indian thicket as silently and easily as he would an
as a fighter, open plain, in his powers of secrecy, and in
his habit of making rapid, unexpected sallies for rob-
bery and murder, and then gliding back into the dark
and almost impenetrable forest. The child of impulse,
he soon tired of protracted military operations ; and in
a siege or in the open usually yielded to stoutly sus'
tained resistance on the part of an enemy inferior io
Ch. I.] Indiari Characteristics, 15
numbers. But the colonists were obliged to learn and
adopt the Indian's skulking method of warfare before
they could successfully cope with him in the forest.
The Indian was lord of his own wigwam and of the
squaws, whom he purchased of their fathers, kept as
Social cha- his slaves, and could divorce at his caprice,
ractensucs. p^amilies were not large, chiefly owing to
the lack of food and to heavy infant mortality. The
wigwams, or huts, — each tribe having peculiarities
in its domestic architecture, — were foully kept, and
the bodies of their dirty inhabitants swarmed with
vermin. Kind and hospitable to friends and unsus-
pected strangers, the Indian was merciless to his ene-
mies, no cruelty being too severe for a captive. Yet
prisoners were often snatched from the stake or the
hands of a vindictive captor to be adopted into the family
of the rescuer, taking the place of some one slaughtered
by the enemy. In council and when among strangers,
the Indian was dignified and reserved, too proud to
exhibit curiosity or emotion; but around his own fire he
was often a jolly clown, much given to verbosity, and
fond of comic tales of doubtful morality. Improvidence
was one of his besetting sins.
The summer dress of the men was generally a short
apron made of the pelt of a wild animal, the women
being clothed in skins from neck to knees;
in winter both sexes wrapped themselves in
large robes of similar material. Indian oratory was
highly ornate; it abounded in metaphors drawn from a
minute observance of nature and from a picturesque
mythology. A belief in the efficacy of religious observ-
ances was deep seated. Long fastings, penances, and
sacrifices were frequent. The elements were
eigion. peopled with spirits good and bad. Every
animal, every plant, had its manitou, or incarnate spirit.
l6 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. I.
Fancy ran riot in superstition. Even the dances prac-
tised by the aborigines had a certain religious signifi-
cance, being pantomimes, and in some features resem-
bling the mediaeval miracle-plays of Europe. The art of
M di in healing was tinctured with necromancy, al-
though there was considerable virtue in their
decoctions of barks, roots, and herbs, and their vapor-
baths, which came in time to be borrowed from them
by the whites.
In intellectual activity the red man did not occupy
so low a scale as has often been assigned him. He
Intellectual was barbarous in his habits, but was so
status. from choice : it suited his wild, untrammelled
nature. He understood the arts of politeness when he
chose to exercise them. He could plan, he was an incom-
parable tactician and a fair strategist; he was a natural
logician; his tools and implements were admirably
adapted to the purpose designed; he fashioned boats
that have not been surpassed in their kind ; he was
remarkably quick in learning the use of firearms, and
soon equalled the best white hunters as a marksman.
A rude sense of honor was highly developed in the
Indian; he had a nice perception of public propriety; he
bowed his will to the force of custom, — these character-
istics doing much to counteract the anarchical tendency
of his extreme democracy. He understood the value of
form and color, as witness his rock-carvings, his rude
paintings, the decorations on his finely tanned leather,
and his often graceful body markings. It was because
the savage saw little in civilized ideas to attract him, that
he either remained obdurate in the face of missionary
endeavors, or simulated an interest he could not feel.
Ch. I.j Indians and Colonists. 17
5. Relations of the Indians and Colonists.
The colonists from Europe met the Red Indian in a
threefold capacity. — as a neighbor, as a customer and
_, ^ ,. trader, and as a foe opposed to encroach-
Tlie Indians , , . , . , . ^
and the ments upon his huntmg-grounds. At first
colonists. ^j^g whites were regarded by the aborigines
as of supernatural origin, and hospitality, veneration,
and confidence were displayed toward the new-comers.
Indians as But the mortality of the Europeans was soon
^°^^- made painfully evident to them. When the
early Spaniards, and afterwards the English, kidnapped
tribesmen to sell them into slavery or to use them
as captive guides for future expeditions, or even mur-
dered the natives on slight provocation, distrust and ha-
tred naturally succeeded the sentiment of awe. Like
many savage races, like the earlier Romans, the Indian
looked upon the member of every tribe with which he
had not made a formal peace as a public enemy; hence
he felt justified in wreaking his vengeance on the race
whenever he failed to find individual offenders. He was
exceptionally cruel, his mode of warfare was skulking,
he could not easily be got at in the forest fastnesses
which he alone knew well, and his strokes fell heaviest
on women and children; so that whites came to fear
and unspeakably to loathe the savage, and often added
greatly to the bitterness of the struggle by retaliation
in kind. The white borderers themselves were frequently
brutal, reckless, and lawless ; and under such conditions
clashing was inevitable.
But the love of trade was strong among the Indians,
The fur- and caused them to some extent to over-
imer-'tribal come or to conceal their antipathies. There
barter. had always existed a system of inter-tribal
barter, so widespread that the first whites landing
2,
1 8 Land and Aborigines, [Ch. T
on the Atlantic coast saw Indians with copper orna-
ments and tools which came from the Lake Superior
mines ; and by the middle of the seventeenth century
many articles of European make had passed inland, by
means of these forest exchanges, as far as the Missis-
sippi, in advance of the earliest white explorers. The
trade with the Indians was one of the incentives to colo-
nization. The introduction of European blankets at once
revolutionized the dress of the coast tribes; and it is
surprising how quickly the art of using firearms was ac-
quired among fhem, and barbaric implements and utensils
abandoned for those of civilized make. So rapid was
this change that it was not long before the Indians be-
came dependent on the whites for nearly every article of
dress and ornament, and for tools and weapons. The
white traders, who travelled through the woods visiting
the tribes, exchanging these goods for furs, often cheated
and robbed the Indian, taught him the use of intoxicants,
bullied and browbeat him, appropriated his women, and in
general introduced serious demoralization into the native
camps. Trouble frequently grew out of this wretched
condition of affairs. The bulk of the whites doubtless
intended to treat the Indian honorably; but the forest
traders were beyond the pale of law, and news of the
details of their transactions seldom reached the coast
settlements.
As a neighbor the Indian was difficult to deal with,
whether in the negotiation of treaties of amity, or in
the purchase of lands. Having^ but a loose
The Indian ^ . , ° ,,
as a neigh- System of government, there was no really
^^'^' responsible head, and no compact was secure
from the interference of malcontents who would not
be bound by treaties made by the chiefs. The English
felt that the red-men were not putting the land to its
full use, that much of the territory was growing up as
Ch. I.] Civilization against Savagery, 19
a waste, that they were best entitled to it who could
make it the most productive. On the other hand, the
earh'er cessions of land were made under a total mis-
conception : the Indians supposed that the new-comers
would, after a few years of occupancy, pass on and leave
the tract again to the natives. There was no compromise
possible between races with precisely opposite views of
Theinevit- P^ope^ty in land. The struggle was inevita-
able struggle ble, — civilization against savagery. No sen-
ormasery. ^jj^g^tal notions could prevent it. It was in
the nature of things that the weaker must give way. For
a long time it was not certain that a combined effort
might not drive the whites into the sea and undo the
work of colonization ; but in the end the savage went to
the wall.
Taking a general view of the growth of the American
nation, it is now easy to see that it was fortunate that
Good effect Englishmen met in the Indian so formidable
of Indian an antagonist : such fierce and untamed sav-
onthecolo- ages could never be held long as slaves;
nists. ^j^^^ |.]^yg were the American colonists of the
North — the bone and sinew of the nation — saved from
the temptations and the moral danger which come from
contact with a numerous servile race. Again, every
step of progress into the wilderness being stubbornly
contested, the spirit of hardihood and bravery — so essen.
tial an element in nation-building — was fostered among
the borderers ; and as settlement moved westward slowly,
only so fast as the pressure of population on the seaboard
impelled it, the Americans were prevented from planting
scattered colonies in the interior, and thus were able to
present a solid front to the mother-country when, in
due course of time, fostering care changed to a spirit of
commercial control, and commercial control to jealous
interference and menace.
20 Era of Exploration, [Ch. ii.
CHAPTER II.
DISCOVERIES AND EARLY SETTLEMENTS.
(1492-1606.)
6. References.
Bibliographies. — Winsor, Columbus, and Narrative and Crit-
ical History, I. xix-xxxvii, 33-58, 76-132, 369-444, II. 153-179,
205, III. 7-58, 78-84, 97-104, 121, 126, 184-218; Larned, Lit-
erature 0/ American History, 50-68, and History for Ready Refer-
ence, I. 54-79; Avery, United States, I. 376-403; Channing and
Hart, Guide, §§ 81-96; also bibliographical chapters in Bourne,
Cheney, and Tyler, below.
Historical Maps No. i, this volume (Epoch Maps, No. i);
MacCoun; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, I., II.; H.
Ilarrisse, Discovery of North America, and Decouverte et Evolution
Cartographique de Terre-Neuve; E. L. Stevenson, Maps illustrat-
ing Early Discovery and Exploration in America; maps in American
Nation scries (Bourne, Cheney, and Tyler),
General Accounts. — On geographical knowledge of ancients,
and pre-Columbian discoveries : Winsor, Narrative aiui Critical,
I. chs. i., ii., W. Wilson, American People, I. ch. i.; Avery, I. chs.
iii.-vi.; E. Cheney, European Background of American History.
chs. i.-v. — On discovery and settlement, from Columbus to
Jamestown : M. Creighton, Age of Elizabeth (Epochs of Modern
History); R. Hildreth, United States, I. chs. i., iii.; 0. Bancroft,
United States, I. chs. i.-v.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical, II.
chs. i.-vii., III. chs. '\.-\v., a.nd Columbus ; Avery, I, chs. vii.-xxi ;
E. Channing, United States, I. chs. i.-v.; J. Doyle, English Col-
onies in America, I. ch. iv.
Special Histories. — E. Bourne, Spain in America; Park-
man, Pioneers of France in the New World, 28-233, 296-309;
Winsor, Cartier to Fronteiiac, chs. i.-iii.; C. Baird, Huguenot
Emigration to America; L. Tyler, England in America, chs. i., ii.
For lives of explorers, consult bibliographies, above.
Contemporary Accounts. — YiakXuyi, Voyages; Camden So-
ciety, Publications, Ixxxvii.; Relation of Captain Gosnold's Voy-
age (1602); Breton, Brief and True Relation (1602); Pring,
Voyage for Discovery of North Part of Virginia (1603); Rosier,
— looo.] The Scandinavian Claim. 21
True Relation (1605); Amerigo Vespuccius, Letters. — Reprints:
Prince Society, Publications ; American History told by Contem-
poraries, I. part ii.; J. Jameson, Original Narratives of Early
American History ; American History Leaflets, i, 3, 9, 13.
7. Pre-Columbian Discoveries.
The Basques, Normans, Welsh, Irish, and Scandi-
navians are the principal claimants for the honor of
discovering America before Columbus ; and there are
also believers in early African migrations to the western
continent, chiefly influenced by supposed ethnological
and botanical evidences found in South America. The
The Scandi- Scandinavians make out the strongest case,
navian claim. Iceland, SO tradition runs, was first conquered
by the Britons in the sixth century. Then followed a
succession of Danish and Irish settlements. But the
Celts were driven out by Ingolf, who led a colony of
Norwegians thither in 875 and founded Reikjavik.
The ancient Norse sagas — oral traditions, none of
which were fixed in writing until the twelfth century, and
most of them not until the fourteenth — mention voyages
to the west from Iceland, and the discovery of new lands
(n that quarter as early as 876. In 985 Eric the Red is
said to have led colonies to this western land, — by this
time called Greenland. The following year (986) Bjarni
Herjulfson claimed to have been driven by contrary
winds to a strange shore nine days' sail southwest from
Greenland, — "to a land flat and covered with trees."
Then comes the familiar story, that in the year 1000 Leif,
son of Eric the Red, having come from Norway and
introduced Christianity into both Iceland and Greenland,
sailed away to the southwest with thirty-five companions,
intent on visiting the country which Bjarni had discov-
ered before him. They wintered, so the saga reads, "at
a place where a river flowed out from a lake," called the
region Vinland because of wild grapes growing there.
^2 Era of Exploration. [Ch. II
" erected large buildings," and then set out for Green
land with a cargo of timber, — a commodity much needed
in the fishing colonies of the less-favored North. It is
related that other explorations succeeded this, and that
in 1007 a temporary settlement was formed in sunny Vin-
land, where the colonists, nearly one hundred in number,
"had all the good things of the country, both of grapes
and of all sorts of game and other things." Trading voy-
ages to the new country now became frequent, say the
sagas, and considerable shipments of timber were made
from Vinland to Greenland. Eric Upsi, a Greenland
bishop, is alleged, on doubtful authority, to have gone to
Vinland in 1121; and in 1347 there is mention of a
Greenland ship sailing out there for a cargo of timber,
— but this is the very last reference to Vinland by the
Norwegian bards.
An enormous mass of literature has been the outgrowth
of these geographical puzzles in the sagas, and many
writers have ventured to identify every headland and
other natural object mentioned in them. The common
theory among the advocates of the Scandi-
owy, bu^" navian claim is, that Vinland was somewhere
notimprob- on the coast south of Labrador; but as to
able-
the exact locality, there is much diversity of
opinion. There may easily have been early voyages to
the American mainland south of Davis Straits by the
hardy Norse seamen colonized in Iceland and Green-
land, and it is probable that there were numerous
adventures of that sort.
The sagas, like the Homeric tales, were oral narrations
for centuries before they were committed to writing, and
as such were subject to distortion and patriotic and ro-
mantic embellishment. It is now difficult to separate
in them the true from the false; yet we have other
contemporaneous evidence (Adam of Bremen, 1076) that
fooo-1450.] The Race for htdia, 23
the Danes regarded Vinland as a reality. Pretended
monuments of the early visits of Northmen to our shores
have been exhibited, — notably the old mill at Newport
and the Dighton Rock; but modern scholarship has
determined that these are not relics of the vikings, and
had a much less romantic origin. It is now safe to say
that nowhere in America, south of undisputed traces
in Greenland, are there any convincing archaeological
proofs of these alleged centuries of Norse occupation
in America.
8. Early European Discoveries (1492-1512).
But even granting the possibility, and indeed the prob-
ability, of pre-Columbian discoveries, they bore no last-
ing fruit, and are merely the antiquarian puzzles and
American curiosities of American history. The develop-
deveiopment ^^^^^ ^f ^j^g j^^^ World began with the
begun with o
Columbus, landing (Oct. 12, 1492) on an island in the
Bahamas, of Christopher Columbus, the agent of Spain.
It was an age of daring maritime adventure. India,
whence Europe obtained her gold and silks, her spices,
perfumes, and precious stones, was the common goal.
For many centuries the great trade route had been
by caravans from India overland through Central Asia
and the Balkan peninsula to Italy, the Rhine country,
the Netherlands, and beyond; but the raids of the
fierce desert tribes and the capture of Constantinople
(1453) had closed this path, and now the trade passed
through Egypt. With improvements in the art of nav-
igation there arose a general desire to reach India
by sea. Three centuries before Christ, Aristotle had
The race taught that the earth was a sphere, and that
for India. t^g waters which laved Europe on the west
washed the eastern shores of Asia^ Here and there
through the centuries others advanced the same opinion,
24 Era of Exphratiojt, [Ch. II
and the map which the great Italian astronomer Tos-
canelli sent to Columbus (1474) showed China to be
but fifty-two degrees west of Europe. The idea that by
sailing west India could be reached, was therefore quite
familiar to the contemporaries of Columbus, although he
The idea of Stands in the front as the one man who put his
sailing faith to the test. The mistake lav in the cur-
westward II- r
to reach rent Calculations regarding: the size of the earth.
original' with Instead of being only three thousand miles to
Columbus. the west, Asia was twelve thousand, and the
continent of America blocked the way. It is probable
that Columbus went to his grave still firm in the belief
that he had reached the confines of India, — indeed, the
names he gave to the islands and to the strange people
who inhabited them stand as enduring evidence of his
geographical error.
The Portuguese, on the other hand, sought India by
the southeast passage, around the continent of Africa,
and had been creeping southward along the African coast
for several years before Spain sent Columbus to reach
Asia by the west. Thus in the race for India and the
discovery of intermediate lands, the Portuguese and the
Spanish had adopted opposite routes. Pope Alexander
Pope Alex- VI. now issucd his famous bull (May 4, i493)j
ander'sbull. partitioning the un-Christian world into two
parts, — Spain to have lands west of an imaginary merid-
ian 100 leagues west of Cape de Verde islands, and Por-
tugal those to the east— a simple arrangement, on paper.
Next year, by agreement, the hne was moved to 270
leagues westward, but it was still supposed to be in mid-
ocean. By this change, however, the eastern part of what
is now Brazil fell to Portugal.
England, although still Catholic, was not disposed to
allow Spain and Portugal to monopolize between them
those portions of the earth which Europeans had not
1474-^ $01 ] T/ie Cahots. 25
yet seen; and we are told that there was grievous dis-
appointment at the court of London because Spain had
been the path-breaker to the west. In 1497
sends out John Cabot set sail from England armed with
John Cabot. ^ trading charter, to endeavor to reach Asia
by way of the northwest. He had knowledge of the
exploit of Columbus, and may well have heard of the
Scandinavian discovery of Vinland. Early in the morn-
ing of the 24th of June he sighted the gloomy head-
lands of Cape Breton, — the first known European to
make this important discovery. It is on record that
" great honors " were heaped upon the ad\-enturous
mariner upon his return to England, and that the gen-
erous king gave '''' £'^0 to him that found the new
isle " — the equivalent of $700 or $800 of our money.
The year 1498 was one of the most notable in the long
and splendid history of maritime discovery. Young
Portugal Vasco da Gama, of Portugal, turned the Cape
india^b the ^^ Good Hope, and gayly sailed his little fleet
southeast. into the harbor of Calicut (May 20). At last
India had been discovered by the southeast passage :
Portugal had first reached the goal. In May, also, Co-
lumbus set forth upon his third voyage, during which
he first discovered the mainland of South America ; and
in the same month John Cabot's second son, Sebastian,
left Bristol in the hope of finding the northwest pas-
sage, which his father had failed to reach, and
oebastian i.. -i. i.i
Cabot's which was undiscovered until our own times
voyage. (1850). Icebergs turned Sebastian southward,
and he explored the American shores down to the vicin-
ity of Chesapeake Bay. From this voyage sprang the
claim under which the English colonies in North America
were founded.
Three years later (1501) a Portuguese mariner,
Caspar Cortereal, explored the American coast south oi
26 Era of Exploration. [Ch. II.
the Gulf of St. Lawrence for a long distance. By 1504
we know that fishermen from Brittany and Normandy
Newfound- wcre at Newfoundland, and from that time
cofonSl* forward there appear to have been more or
nucleus. less permanent colonies of fishermen there, —
P'rench, Portuguese, Spanish, and English, — with their
little huts and drying scaffolds clustered along the shores.
Newfoundland proved valuable as a supply and repair
station for future explorers and colonizers. It was
the nucleus of both French and English settlement in
America. By 1578 there were no less than one hundred
and fifty French vessels alone employed in the New-
foundland fisheries, and a good trade with the Indians
had been established.
The idea that America was but a projection of Asia
possessed all the early explorers; and indeed it was
Searching ^ century and a half later (1728) before Berin;^
for a short sailed from the Pacific Ocean to the Arctic
cut through
America. and provcd that America was msulated. There
was another geographical error, which took even a longer
time to explode, — the notion that a waterway somewhere
extended through the American continent, uniting the
Atlantic and the Pacific. John Smith and other English
colonists thought that by ascending the James, the York,
the Potomac, the Roanoke, or the Hudson, they could
emerge with ease upon waters flowing to the ocean of the
west. Champlain sent (1634) the fur-trader Nicolet up
the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes into Wisconsin,
which he thought to be Asia; and JoUiet and Marquette
(1673) imagined they had found the highway thither when
their birch-bark canoes glided into the upper Mississippi
at Prairie du Chien.
One hundred and seven years before the Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth Rock, Balboa scaled the continental
backbone at Darien (1513), and in the name of Spain
I504-I525]' TJic Spaniards, 27
claimed dominion over the waters of the Pacific. With
undaunted zeal did Spanish explorers then beat up and
down the western shore of the Gulf of Mexico, vainly
seeking for a passage through by water. A great stim-
ulus had now been given to the general desire to reach
India by sea; for the Turks were overrunning Egypt
(15 1 2-1 520) and despoiling the caravans from the East,
so that the manufactures and trade of western Europe
were sadly crippled. But thus far Portugal alone held
the key to the sea-route to India.
9. Spanish Exploration of the Interior (1513-1542).
This same year (15 13) was notable also for the first
visit made by Spaniards to the mainland of North Amer-
Ponce da ^^^' Po^^cc de Leon, a valiant soldier worn
.'.eon in out in loupf servicc, and who had been serving:
Florida. r T^ T^ • 1 T-i • 1
as governor of Porto Rico, went to the Plorida
mainland, where a popular legend said there was a foun-
tain giving forth waters capable of recuperating life-
The country was ablaze with brilliant flowers, but the
elixir of life was not there, and he returned disappointed
In 1519 Pineda, another Spaniard, explored the north-
ern shore of the Gulf of Mexico. The following yeai
(1520) a slave-hunting: expedition, under Vas
Vasquez in ^ -^ '^ r
South Caro- quez, visitcd the coast of South Carohna,
'"*■ which the commander styled Chicora. The
brilliant conquest of Mexico by Cortez (1519-1521) had
made that hardy adventurer the hero of Christendom;
and in the hope of rivalling his splendid achievement,
Vasquez returned to Chicora in 1525, commissioned by
Charles V. as governor of the country. But Chicora
was not Mexico, and the Red Indians were of a dif-
ferent temper from the Aztecs. The expedition met with
disaster. While Vasquez was fighting the embittered
savages in South Carolina, Gomez, also in behalf of
28 Era of Exploration, [Ch. IL
Spain, was ranging along the Atlantic coast from New«
foundland to New Jersey, and instituting a successful
trade with the natives.
In April, 1528, Narvaez, with three hundred enthusi-
astic young nobles and gentlemen from Spain, landed
at Tampa Bay and renewed his sovereign's claim to
Florida and its supposed wealth of mines
Narvaez in . ^ *■
the Florida and precious Stones. Led by the fables of the
^' *• wily native guides, who were careful to tell
what their Spanisli tormentors wished most to hear,
they floundered hither and thither through the great
swamps and forests, continually wasted by fatigue, famine,
disease, and frequent assaults of savages. At last, after
many distressing adventures, but four men were left out
of this brilliant company, — Cabeza de Vaca, treasurer of
the expedition, and three companions. For eight years
did these four bruised and ragged Spaniards wearily Jd
roam through the region now divided into Texas, In- '
dian Territory, New Mexico, and Arizona, — through en-
tangled forests, across broad rivers and desert stretches I
beset with wild beasts and wilder men, but ever spurred
on by vague reports of a colony of their countrymen in ,
the far southwest. At last (May, 1536), the miserable I
wanderers reached Culiacan, on the Gulf of California,
whence they were borne in triumph to the city of Mexico
as the guests of the province.
Their coming revived the shadowy native tales of gold
mines and wealthy cities to the north, which had for
£, J some years been excitino^ the cupidity of the
Spaniards •' _ *=• ir j
reachine; conqucrors of McxIco. In response to these
from ^ rumors there had been frequent reachings out
Mexico. northward. In 1528 Cortez had despatched
Maldonado up along the Pacific coast for three hundred
miles. Two years later (1530) Guzman penetrated to the
mouth of the Gulf of California and established the town
1 5 28- 1540] Seven Cities of Cibola. 29
of Culiacan. Cortez again had vessels on the Pacific
in 1532, and by 1535 his heutenants were claiming for
him the Lower California peninsula. It is possible that
Spanish vessels coasted northward beyond the Columbia ;
but no news of their discoveries reached the geographers
in Europe.
It was in 1530 that specific reports first came, through
native slaves, of seven great cities of stone-built houses
„„ 4, e a few hundred miles north of the capital of
The Seven _ ^
Cities of the Aztecs, where the inhabitants had such a
profusion of gold and silver that their house-
hold utensils were made of those metals. The search
for "the seven cities of Cibola," as these alleged com-
munities came to be called by the Spaniards, was at
once begun. Guzman, just then at the head of affairs
in New Spain, led northward a considerable expedition
of Spanish soldiers and Indians, which suffered great
hardships, but failed to discover Cibola.
Cabeza de Vaca and his fellow-adventurers claimed,
upon their arrival, to have themselves seen the seven
Coronado's cities ; and they enlarged on the previous
march. stories. Coronado, governor of the northern
province of New Gallicia, was accordingly sent to con-
quer this wonderful country which Guzman had failed
to find. Early in 1540 he set out with a well-equipped
following of three hundred Spaniards and eight hun-
dred Indians. The Cibola cities were found to be
but pueblos in Arizona or New Mexico, like the com-
munal dwellings of the Hopis and Zuiiis, with the
aspect of which we are so familiar to-day ; while the
mild inhabitants destitute of wealth, peacefully prac-
tising their crude industries and tilling their irrigated
fields, were foemen hardly worthy of Castilian steel.
Disappointed, but still hoping to find the country of
gold, Coronado's gallant little army, frequently thinned
30 Era of Exploration. [Ch. IL
by death and desertion, beat for three years up and
down the southwestern wilderness, — now thirsting in the
deserts, now penned up in gloomy caflons, now crawling
over pathless mountains, suffering the horrors of starva-
tion and of despair, but following this will-o'-the-wisp
with a melancholy perseverance seldom seen in man save
when searching for some mysterious treasure. Coronado
apparently crossed the State of Kansas tv/ice ; "through
mighty plains and sandy heaths, smooth and wearisome
and bare of wood. . . . All that way the plains are as
full of crookback oxen as the mountain Serena in Spain
is of sheep. . . . They were a great succor for the hun-
ger and want of bread which our people stood in. One
day it rained in that plain a great shower of hail as big
as oranges, which caused many tears, weaknesses, and
vows." The wanderer ventured as far as the Missouri,
and would have gone still farther eastward but for his
inability to cross the swollen river. Co-operating parties
explored the upper valleys of the Rio Grande and Gila,
ascended the Colorado for two hundred and forty miles
above its mouth, and visited the Grand Cafion of the
same river. Coronado at last returned, satisfied that
he had been made the victim of travellers' idle tales.
He was rewarded with contumely and lost his place as
governor of New Gallicia ; but his romantic march stands
in history as one of the most remarkable exploring
expeditions of modern times.
Early in the summer of 1539 Hernando de Soto, the
favorite of Pizarro in the conquest of Peru (1532), an-
chored his fleet in the bay of Espiritu Santo,
De Soto ^, . , , . , . . , ^,
follows Florida, determmed to gam mdependent renown
Narvaez. ^^ ^^ conqueror of the North American wilds.
His was a much larger and better-equipped party than
had subjugated either Mexico or Peru. But he met
the fate of Narvaez. False Indian guides led him hither
1540-1687.1 De Soto. 31
and thither through the swamps and moss-grown jungles
of the Gulf region, and the survivors formed a sorry-
company indeed when the Mississippi River was reached
(April, 1 541), — probably at the lowest Chickasaw Bluff,
— after two years of fruitless wandering. The next
winter, still betrayed by his savage guides and harassed
by attacks from other natives, he spent upon the Washita,
but despairing of reaching Mexico by land, he returned
to the Mississippi, where he died of swamp-fever (May
21, 1542). The great river he had discovered was his
tomb. His wretched followers, by this time much re-
duced in numbers, descended the stream, and after great
hardships finally reached the Mexican coast-settlements
in September.
10. Spanish Colonies (1492-1687).
A half century had now passed since the advent of
Columbus in the Bahamas ; yet upon the mainland to the
north, Spain as yet held neither harbor, fort, nor settle-
ment. In the southwest, the proximity of Mexico and the
milder character of the natives made it easier to maintain
a settlement in what is now United States territory. In
1582, forty years after Coronado's march, Franciscan
S anish friars opened missions in the valleys of the
friars in the Rio Grande and the Gila, — the Cibola of old.
Sixteen years later (1598) Santa Fd was estab-
lished as the seat of Spanish power in the north ; by
1630 this power was at its highest in New Mexico and
Arizona, fifty missions administering religious instruction
to ninety Pueblo towns. In 1687 the chain of missions had
reached the Gulf of California, and then slowly extended
northward along the Pacific coast till San Francisco,
with its system of Indian vassalage, was established in
1776. In Florida, after the extermination of the French
Huguenot colony in 1564, Spain made wholesale claims:
32 Era of Exploration, [Ch. II.
to all that region ; but De Gourgues dealt her settle-
ments a staggering blow, and she seemed thereafter in-
Spain's Capable of further colonizing the province. At
possessions ^^"'6 closc of the sixteenth century Spain held
at close of iju^- fg^y points in what is now the United
sixteenth ^
century. Statcs, — Santa Y€ in New Mexico, a few
scattering missions along the Gila and Rio Grande, and
St. Augustine in Florida.
11. The French in North America (1524-1550).
The French were not far behind the Spanish in their
attempts to colonize North America In 1524 John
The French Verrazano, a Florentine in tiie employ of
enter the P^rancis I., while seeking the supposed water
passage through America to China, explored
the coast from about Wilmington, N. C., to Newfound-
land. Ten years later (1534) Jacques Cartier, a St.
Male seaman, sailed up the north shore of the estuary
of the St. Lawrence "until land could be seen on either
Cartier at sidc." The next year he was back again, and
Montreal; asccudcd to the first rapids at La Chine,
naming the island mountain there, Mont-Rdal. Having
spent the winter in this inhospitable region, his reports
were such as to discourage for a time further "attempts
at colonization in America by the French, who were just
now engaged at home in serious difficulties with Spain.
A truce being at last declared between France and
Spain, Cartier was made captain-general and chief pilot
of an American colonizing expedition which Francis
allowed the lord of Roberval to undertake. But this
conflict of authority was distasteful to both Cartier and
Roberval, and the former started off before his chief in
May, 1 541. He built a fort near Quebec, but a year later
returned to France, just before Roberval arrived with
reinforcements for the colony. The latter remained for
1527-1564] The French in Florida, 33
a year in America before returning home, and it is thought
that he visited Massachusetts Bay in his voyages along-
shore. France was now ablaze with civil war,
and the Huguenots, with their independent
notions, were engaging all the resources of the royal
power, so that further American discoveries were for the
time postponed. The Newfoundland industry, however,
grew apace, for the Church prescribed a fish diet on cer-
tain days and at certain seasons, and the consumption ol
salted fish in Europe had grown to be enormous- Breton
vessels were from the first prominent in the traffic.
12. French Attempts to colonize Florida (1562-1568).
Admiral Coligny, the great Huguenot leader, was am
bitious to establish a colony of French Protestants in
Co'igny's America which should be a refuge for his per-
coiony at sccutcd countrymcu whenever it became desir-
Port Royal t i r i i t t->m
able lor them to seek new seats. Jean Ribaul
went out under his auspices in 1562, discovered St. John's
River in Florida, went up Broad River, named the country
Carolina, after the boy-king, Charles IX., and left twenty
six colonists at Port Royal, on Lemon Island. But the
settlers soon tired of their enterprise, and the following
year set out for home. An English cruiser captured the
party on the high sea when it was reduced to the last
extremity for want of food. The more exhausted of the
company were landed in France ; the rest were taken to
England,
The succeeding season (1564), another colonizing expe-
dition, made up of Protestants, headed by Rend Goulaine
Laudonni^re ^e Laudonni^re, and aided by the king, sought
m Flonda, Carolina. Avoiding Port Royal as ill-omened,
they established themselves on St. John's River. The
emigrants were a dissolute set, as emigrants were api
to be in an age when the sweepings of European jails
3
34 Ef"^ of Exploration, ICh. II.
and gutters were thought to furnish good colonizing
material for America. Laudonni^re hung some of his
followers for piracy against Spanish vessels; others were
captured in the act by the Spaniards, and sold into slavery
in the West Indies. What remained of the colony soon
lost, through dishonesty and severity, the respect of the
Indians, who had at first received the intruders kindly.
When, in August, 1565, Sir John Hawkins, the noted
slaver and navigator, appeared with his fleet, he was able
to render the now half-starved settlers most needed help.
Ribaut soon came also, with recruits, provisions, seeds,
domestic animals, and farming implements, greatly to the
joy of the little colony.
But this happiness was not of long duration. The
attention of Philip II. of Spain was at length called to this
colony of French heretics which was gaining a foothold
upon his domain of Florida. In August, 1565, his
agent, Pedro Melendez de Aviles, appeared on the scene
and announced his purpose to "gibbet and behead all the
Protestants in these regions." Melendez established St.
The Spanish Augustine, which is thus the oldest town in
massacre. ^]-,g United States east of the Mississippi, and
then with blood thirsty deliberateness proceeded to wipe
the French settlement out of existence. French writers
clann that nine hundred persons were cruelly massacred ;
and the Spanish estimate is not far below that number.
A Gascon soldier, Dominic de Gourgues, soon came
over (1567) to avenge the wrong done his fellow-Hugue-
TheHugue- ^^^^- -^^ captured all the Spanish establish-
nots ments left by Melendez, except St. Augustine,
avenge When he found, the following year, that he
could not hold his prizes, he hung the Spanish prisoners to
trees and hastened back to France. His king, however,
being under the influence of Spain, disavowed this actoi
reprisal, and relinquished all further claim to Florida.
1564- 1 604-1 De Moiits. 35
13. The French in Canada (1589-1608).
The colonial policy of Henri IV. (1589-1610) was
more progressive and enlightened than that of his im-
mediate predecessors on the throne of France. But he
had not yet learned what succeeding generations were
to discover to their cost, — that criminals and paupers
do not make good colonists. In 1598 the familiar error
De la was repeated, when the Marquis de la Roche
feSd ven-"" ^^^^ °"^ ^ company of forty jail-birds, liber-
ture. ated for the purpose, and landed them on
the dreary, storm-washed Isle of Sable, off the Nova
Scotia coast, where, eighty years earlier (15 18), the Baron
de Ldry had made a vain attempt to start a colony. La
Roche, beggared on his return home, was unable to suc-
cor his colonists, who on their inhospitable sands lived
more like beasts than men. Five years later the twelve
skin-clad survivors were picked up by a chance vessel
and taken back to France, to tell a tale of almost
matchless horror.
It was an age of licensed commercial monopolies, as
well as of other economic experiments. In the year 1600
Chauvin obtained the exclusive right to prosecute the
fur-trade in the New Land to the west, and united with
him a St. Malo merchant, Pontgravd. They made two
lucrative voyages, but established no settlement. Samuel
de Champlain, in Pontgravd's company, went out in 1603,
Champlain's ascending the St. Lawrence as far as Montreal,
first voyage Later (this Same year) De Monts, a Calvinist,
was given the viceroyalty and the fur-trade monopoly of
Acadia, — between the fortieth and sixtieth degrees of
De Monts' latitude, — and religious freedom was granted
colony. there for Huguenots, though the Indians were
to be instructed in the Romish faith. De Monts and
his strangely assorted party of vagabonds and gentlemen
56 Era of Exploration, [Ch. ii
first settled on an island, near the present boundary
between Maine and New Brunswick, in the fall of
1604, but the following spring moved to Port Royal, —
now Annapolis, Nova Scotia. This, the first French
agricultural colony yet planted in America, suffered dis-
aster after disaster ; but although Port Royal was aban-
doned in 1607, the germ of colonization lived. In 1608,
Quebec Champlain — who had, four years before, while
established, jn the employ of J3e Monts, explored the
coast as far south as Cape Cod — set up a permanent
French post upon the gloomy cliff at Quebec. Soon
the Jesuits came; and by the time the "Mayflower"
had reached New England, New France was established
beyond a doubt, and French influence was penetrating
inland. Wandering savages from the Upper Lakes,
nearly a thousand miles in the interior, had at last seen
the white man and begun to feel his power.
14 English Exploration (1498-1584).
England would have followed up Cabot's discovery of
North America with more vigor had not Henry VII.,
English in- being a Catholic prince, hesitated to set aside
Newfound ^^^ Pop^'s buU giving the new continent to
land. Spain. His subjects, however, made large
hauls of fish along the foggy shores of Newfoundland^
and in 1502 some American savages were exhibited to
him in London. Henry VI 1 1, was at first similarly-
scrupulous; but when, in 1533, he got rid of his queen,
Catharine of Aragon, he was free from Spanish en-
tanglements, and aspired to make England a maritime
nation. Among many other enterprises the northwest
passage allured h.m, although nothing came of his ven-
tures in that direction. With the accession of Edward VL
(1547) a progressive era opened. The Newfoundland
1587-16051 Gilbert and Raleigh. 37
fisheries were now so effectively encouraged that by 1574,
under Elizabeth, from thirty to fifty English ships were
making annual trips to the Grand Banks.
The most popular ventures among the nobles of Eliza-
beth's court were the northwest passage, American coloni-
Eiizabeth's nation, and freebooting voyages. Writers of
courtiers voyages and travels and cartographers sprang
looking to- ^ ^ u J ^u . X , , •
wards Amer- up on every hand, the most noteworthy being
"" Richard Eden, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Richard
Hakluyt, and Martin Frobisher. Patronized by the
powerful Earl of Warwick, Frobisher in three succes-
sive voyages (i 576-1 578) vainly sought gold in Labra-
dor. Francis Drake, on his famous buccaneering tour
around the world, explored the Pacific coast of the
United States as far north as Cape Blanco (1579),
unsuccessfully searching for a short cut by water through
the continent.
Gilbert saw that Newfoundland must thereafter be
considered as the nucleus of English settlement in Amer-
Gilbert's i^a ; and in 1579 Sir Humphrey, himself a
voyage. soldier and a member of Parliament, accom-
panied by his step-brother, Sir Walter Raleigh, went
out to lead the way. Storms and other disasters drove
them back, and it was 1583 before another squadron
could be equipped. Raleigh remained in England; but
Gilbert landed at St. John's, where he found that four
hundred vessels of various nationalities, mainly Spanish
and Portuguese, were annually engaged in the fisheries.
He took possession of the island for the queen, exam-
ined the neighboring mainland, and freighted his ships
with glistening rock, ignorantly declared by an unskilful
expert accompanying the expedition to contain silver.
Upon the return voyage the vessel carrying Gilbert was
lost, the companion ship, with its worthless cargo,
reaching Falmouth safely.
2 8 E7'a of Exploration, [Chl IL
15. English Attempts to colonize (1584-1606). i
Under Raleigh's auspices two vessels set out in 1 584,
commanded by Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe.
Amadasand They landed at the island of Roanoke, the
Barlowe. southernmost of the reefs enclosing Albemarle
Sound, in North Carolina; but although charmed with
the country, which they declared to be " the most plen-
tiful, sweet, fruitful, and wholesome of all the world,"
and well treated by the Indians, — " people most gentle,
loving, and faithful," — they made no settlement, and
returned to England. Raleigh, however, was pleased by
the reports brought back; he was knighted, his claim
was confirmed, he named the country Virginia, in token
of his virgin queen, and he entertained visions of estab-
lishing a considerable province there, and of enjoying a
comfortable rent-roll.
In 1585, aided by the queen, he sent out seven ves-
sels and one hundred and eight colonists, the fleet being
Raleigh's Commanded by Sir Richard Grenville, and the
first colony, intending settlers by Ralph Lane, a soldier of
much merit. Few maritime enterprises were sent out by
England in the Elizabethan age that did not include in
their orders a project for preying on Spanish commerce
by the way ; for our ancestors were as yet not far re-
moved in this regard from the spirit of the old Norse
pirates. Grenville therefore sailed around by the Cana-
ries, picked up Spanish prizes partly to meet the cost of
the undertaking, and in due time anchored at Wocoken,
whence he proceeded to Roanoke island.
With the colonists was Manteo, a native who had gone
to England with some former expedition ; and the good-
natured fellow secured for his new friends a warm recep-
tion on the part of the aborigines. But Grenville before
his return treated them harshly, leaving to them and the
i492-i6o6.] RaleigJi s First Colony, 39
colonists a legacy of mutual distrust and grievances. In
March, 1586, Lane ascended the Roanoke River, hoping
to find rich ores and pearls in the upper country ; for the
deceitful savages, wishing to divide the white men's
forces, had told him that the stream had its source near
the western ocean, in a country abounding with these
articles, and encouraged his expedition with promises of
assistance. The enterprise proved full of hardship and
peril, and the governor returned just in time to check a
conspiracy to attack the garrison.
1 Lane had employed his men in frequent explorations,
their journeyings reaching on the north to Chesapeake
Bay and Elizabeth River, on the south to the Secotan.
But the situation became irksome. The spirit of ad-
venture and wealth-seeking prevailed among the colonists ;
it was not a community calculated for the uneventful and
toilsome prosecution of agriculture ; and before long the
fretful disease of homesickness prevailed on the island of
Roanoke.
In June, 1586, Sir Francis Drake appeared with twenty-
three vessels. He had made a rich haul from Spanish
treasure-ships in the West Indies, and had turned aside
on his return trip, curious to see how his friend Raleigh's
colony fared. Yielding to the importunities
prise aban- of the S2ttlers, he took them aboard his
doned. ^^g^. ^^^ carried them back to England. They
had been gone from Roanoke but a few days, when a
ship, bringing supplies sent out by Raleigh, sailed into the
inlet, only to find the place deserted. In another fort-
night, Grenville appeared with three well-furnished ships,
and left fifteen men on the island to renew the colonizing
experiment.
Raleigh displayed most remarkable persistence. He
was undismayed by this long chapter of disasters. Men
on whose judgment he relied brought back good reports
40 Era of ij^xploration. [Ck. il.
from the site of the ill-fated colony, and again he fitted
out an expedition, — this time entirely at his own charge,
. , for Elizabeth had had enough of the experi-
second ment. It was in July, 1587, when John White
attemp . arrived with Raleigh's new colonists off the
shores of North Carolina. At Roanoke, deer were quietly
grazing in a field fertilized by the bones of Grenville's
contingent of the year before, and the fort was in ruins.
Governor White re-established the settlement.
The 1 8th of August the daughter of White, Eleanor
Dare, gave birth to a daughter, called Virginia, after
the country, — the first child of English par-
Virginia ents born on the soil of the United States.
^^''^- A few days later. White left for England, —
ostensibly for recruits and supplies, the colony which he
left behind being composed of eighty-nine men, seven-
teen women, and two children. But England was now
threatened with invasion from Spain ; the energy and
resources of the island were being mustered in its de-
fence; Raleigh, Drake, Grenville, Frobisher, Hawkins,
and the rest were engaged in preparing to resist the
enemy. It was no time for colonization schemes. The
Armada scattered, the father of English colonization in
America found himself ruined, having spent ^40,000
, in his several fruitless ventures. Still hopeful, he next
adopted a scheme of making large grants in Virginia to
merchants and adventurers, and in this manner obtained
some aid.
In 1 591 White returned to Roanoke, to find it again
deserted, with no traces of his daughter or of the other
colonists. They had probably been overcome by the
Wreck of Indians, and those whose lives were spared
the colony, adopted into the neighboring tribes. In spite
of the many costly attempts, the sixteenth century closed
with no English settlement on the shores of America.
x6o2-i6o6.] Gosnold and Gorges, 41
Among the principal causes of this early failure in
Virginia were the improper character and spirit of the
Causes of emigrants, who, instead of looking to the soil
English fail- ^g (.j^g chief sourcc of supplies, expected to
ures thus , '^ ^ » r-
far. find rich mines, or tribes possessing gold, and
relied upon England for the necessaries of life ; they had
not enough occupation to keep them from brooding over
their isolation, and by their harshness they turned the
Indians into harassing enemies.
Bartholomew Gosnold has had the reputation of being
the first mariner who set out for America on a direct
Gosnoid's voyage from England, thus avoiding the West
voyages. Indies and the Spanish, and saving nearly a
thousand miles; but others before him had taken the di-
rect course, — notably Verrazano (1524). In 1602, while
trading with the Indians, Gosnold explored the coast from
Cape Elizabeth, Maine, to the Elizabeth Islands, on his
I Pring in way landing upon and naming Cape Cod. The
Maine, following year Martin Pring discovered many
harbors and rivers in Maine. In 1605 George Wey-
, ^ mouth, sent by the Earl of Southampton and
mouth at Lord Arundel, explored from Cape Cod north-
^^^ ° ■ ward. He carried back with him several kid-
napped natives, three of whom he gave to Sir Ferdinando
Gorges be- Gorges, governor of the English port of Ply-
comes in- mouth. Gorges was particularly struck with the
reported abundance of good harbors in the
north, compared with the scarcity of such in Virginia and
Carolina, and became at once strongly interested in New
England exploration.
Public attention in England had by this time become
strongly attracted to the northern region as probably the
most desirable for future experiments in colonization; it
was pointed out with much force that the lack of good
anchorage was one of the reasons why the southern
42 Era of Exploration. fCn. IL
attempts had failed. Conditions in England, too, had at
last so changed as to make it possible to undertake col-
onization with better assurances of success. But New
England was not destined to be the site of the first per-
manent plantation. That honor was reserved for what is
now Virginia.
16. The Experience of the Sixteenth Century
(1492-1606).
In reviewing the period from 1492 to 1606, — prac-
tically the sixteenth century, — we see that it was notable
Sixteenth foJ* the extraordinary interest displayed in dis-
century not- covcrv and settlement. Attention has been
able for ■'
interest in Called to the part played by the general de-
aS"se«ie. ^^^^ ^^ Europeans to secure the trade of India,
ment. But we must not forget as well that, as a fea-
ture of the great Renaissance and Reformation movement,
the spirit of investigation was abroad, in religion, phi-
losophy, and the arts ; there had grown up great com-
mercial and trading cities, in which the successful foreign
merchant became a part of a powerful aristocracy ; pop-
ular imagination had been fired by traders' stories of
India, China, and Japan; there was an eagerness to
reach out into the regions of mystery, to enlarge the
horizon of human knowledge. The effect was greatly
to increase skill in navigation, to build up a merchant
marine, and — it being an age of universal freebooting —
to cultivate an experience in naval warfare which was
a preparation for the great sea-fights of the eighteenth
century.
Of the three nations which, in the sixteenth century,
attempted to colonize America north of the Gulf of
Mexico, all had practically failed. Spain had with com-
parative ease conquered the unwarlike natives of Mexico
and Peru upon their cultivated plains. That very ease
1492-1606 ] Causes of Failure. 43
took away the disposition, even had her people been
capable of the effort, slowly and painfully to subdue
Causes of ^^^^ tangled forests and savage warriors of
failure in Florida, with no other promise of reward
American than the possession of unredeemed soil. Not
colonization, suited to the task, she utterly wasted alike the
resources of the home government applicable to coloni-
zation, and those of the established colonies. France
had failed because of dissensions at home, inferior
powers of organization, the want of the proper coloni-
zing temper, and the severity of the climate in that
portion of the New World wliich she had seized upon
as the seat of her colonies. English colonization thus
far had been unproductive because there was a want of
understanding of the difficulties, because of the selection
of colonists who lacked experience in agriculture, be-
cause poor harbors were generally chosen, because there
was difficulty in keeping up communications with the
mother-land, because the resident leaders lacked cour-
age and had not the staying qualities which were in
after years the salvation of the Plymouth Pilgrims. But
the effect of these early English efforts was important
in giving the people needed training in navigation and
colonization, and a knowledge of the country.
Taking a general view of America at the close of the
sixteenth century, we find Spain in undisputed posses-
European sion of Peru, Central America, the country
claims in ^gg^ ^^^ northwest of the Gulf of Mexico,
America, '
1600. the greater part of the West Indies, and the
coast of what is now Florida; while they claimed all
of the southern third of the present United States
and the greater part of South America, except Guiana
and Brazil. The French laid claim to the basin of the
St. Lawrence and to the coast northward and south-
ward, but their colonies were not as yet permanently
44 Era of Exploration. [Ch. il.
planted; the attempts to make Huguenot settlements
in Brazil (1555) and Florida had been unsuccessful,
and French claims there had been abandoned under
Spanish influence. It was not until 1609, when Hud-
son sailed up the river named for him, that the Dutch
laid any claims to American soil. Cabral discovered
Brazil for the Portuguese in 1500; but when Portugal,
eighty years later, became the dependency of Spain
(a condition lasting sixty years), her South American
colonies were harried by the Dutch, though she did not
relinquish control of them. The English claimed all the
North American coast from Newfoundland to Florida,
and of course through to the Pacific, no one then enter-
taining the belief that the continent was many hundred
miles in width; but as yet none of their colonizing efforts
had been successful. The Bermudas, Bahamas, and Bar-
bados were neither claimed nor settled b^ EngHshmen
until the seventeenth century. The great Mississippi
basin had been visited by a few Spanish overland wan-
derers, but as yet was practically forgotten and unclaimed,
except so far as it was included in the undefined Spanish
and English transcontinental zones; the Hudson Bay
country, Oregon, and Alaska were also undiscovered
lands. A few thousand miles of American coast-line
were now familiar to European explorers ; but of the
interior of the continent scarcely more was known than
might be seen over the tree-tops from the mast-head of
a caravel.
Ch. III.] Colonial Policy. 45
CHAPTER III.
COLONIZATION AND THE COLONISTS.
17. References.
Bibliographies. — C. Lucas, Introduction to Historical Geog-
raphy of British Colonies, vii., viii.; Winsor, Narrative and Critical
History, III., V.; Larned, Literature of American History, 67-76;
Avery, United States, II. 409-411 ; E. Greene, Provincial America,
ch. xix.; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 92, 104, no.
Historical Maps. — No. 2, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 2);
MacCoun, Winsor, and Avery,
General Accounts. — Colonization : Lucas, as above (col-
onial policies of the European states); J. Seeley, Expansion of
England, chs. iii., iv.; A, Smith, Wealth of Nations, chapter "Of
Colonies "; H. Morris, History of Colonization ; A. Snow, Ad-
ministration of Dependencies, chs. i.-v. — English movement: G.
Beer, Origin of British Colonial System; H, Merivale, Coloniza-
tion and the Colonies ; H. Egerton, Short History of British Colo-
nial Policy, and Origin and Growth of English Colonies; W.
Woodward, Expansion of British Empire; C. Dilke, Greater
Britain, and Problems of Greater Britain; E. Creasy, Imperial
2nd Colonial Constitutions ; Mill, Colonial Constitutions ; J. Toner,
Colonies of North America; J. Marsden, Early Puritans. —
Free institutions imported by American colonists, and colonial
government generally: Greene, Provincial Governor; E. Eggle-
iton. Transit of Civilization, and Beginners of a Nation; A. Low,
American People; Wilson, The State, §§ 832-864; E. Freeman,
English People in its Three Homes, lecture vi.; H. Taylor,
English Constitution, 15-48; Channing, Town and County Govern-
ment; C. Bishop, History of Elections in the Colonies.
Contemporary Accounts. — Published records (chiefly by
historical societies) of the several American colonies. See also
Hakluyt, Voyages; HoWnshcd, Chronicles. — Reprints: E. Arber,
Pilgrim Colonists; A, Brown, Genesis of United States ; W. Mac-
lonald, Documentary Source Book bf American History; Ameri-
can History told by Contemporaries, I. part iii.
18. Colonial Policy of European States.
The time had now come for making the first perma-
lent English settlement in America. Before we proceed
46 Colonization and Colonists, [Ch. III.
to the story of that famous enterprise, however, it will be
well hastily to summarize the colonial policies of those
European States which have at various times establishec
plantations in the New World. It will be well also t(
know what sort of people were the seed of English colo
nization, and what institutions they brought with them a;
the foundations of American commonwealths.
Four motives, working either singly or conjointly, lea(
to colonization, — the spirit of adventurous enterprise
Motives oi the desire for wealth, economic or pohtica
colonization, discontent, and religious sentiment. For ir
stance, Columbus was quite as much a rehgious enthu
siast desirous of spreading the gospel in new lands a:
he was an adventurer; the southern group of Englisl
colonies in America was in the main the outgrowth of i
trading spirit working in conjunction with economic dis
tress in England; and the Puritan migration to Ne\^
England was impelled by economic and political causes
as well as by religious.
In a large sense the planting of a colony means merely
the expansion of the parent State. But this was not th<
Colonization ^^^^^ formerly taken by European govern
IS the ex- ments. For a long time colonies were treatec
[he"par"en[ as dependencies of the mother-country, exist
State, jjjg chiefly to furnish revenue to the latter
either directly in taxes or indirectly in increased trade
It was because the English colonists in America, takin^
though early a broad view of their relationship to Grea
viewed as a Britain, wished to be treated as free Eng
source ot -r* • • j . 1
revenue to it. lishmen in Greater Britain, and not merely a:
revenue-producing subjects, that they revolted in 1776
Colonial history is nearly everywhere the history of thi,
obtuseness of vision on the part of the home government
and it is full of most painful details.
1492-1600.] Spain and Portugal, 47
19. Spanish and Portuguese Policy.
It chanced that the American discoveries made by
Spain were in the region of rich and physically weak
nations. Consequently she won her vast do-
Spain. . . .
minions on this continent by sweeping con-
quest rather than by commercial growth. This was in
sharp contrast with the slow, steady planting of New
England, where the settlers were obliged to conquer a
sterile soil and brave a rigid climate, where they were
hemmed about with savage neighbors who disputed
their establishment, and where they met as well the
sharp opposition, first of the Dutch, and then of the
French, — the latter, in their desire for the Mississippi
valley, jealously endeavoring to restrict Englishmen to the
Atlantic slope. The Spaniards were brave, and they
could rule with severity. But they thirsted for adven-
ture, conquest, and wealth, for which their appetite was
early encouraged; their progress in Mexico, Peru, and
the West Indies had been too rapid and brilliant for
them to be satisfied with the dull life and patient devel-
opment of an agricultural colony. Had they known in
advance the conditions of success on the North Amer-
ican mainland, it is probable that we should never have
been obliged to chronicle the splendid but disastrous
expeditions of Narvaez and De Soto. They would
doubtless have made no attempt to subdue a land which
offered nothing for such appetites as theirs. Their aims
were sordid, their State was loosely knit, their commer-
cial policy was rigidly exclusive, their morals were lax,
and their treatment of the savages was cruel, despite the
tendency of the colonists to amalgamate with the latter,
and thus to descend m the scale of civilization. The
effect of the specie so easily acquired in Mexico and
Peru was to make Spain rapidly rich without manufaC'
48 Colonization a7id Colonists, [Ch. ill
tiires; but her people were thereby demoralized and I
unfitted for the ordinary channels of employment, and
her rulers were corrupted and enfeebled ; in the end the
country was impoverished, declining as rapidly as it had
risen. Spain's glory was fast waning both in the New
and ll^e Old World at the close of the sixteenth century,
and France was ready, in the march of events, to suc-
ceed to her place as the leading nation of Europe.
France was to be supplanted a century later by England,
which was not known as a great power imtil the dis-
persion of the Armada. We have seen that in this his-
torical progress Spain unwittingly helped England by
driving the French out from Florida and Carolina ;
nevertheless the decline of Spain left France the most
formidable rival of the Enghsh.
The Portuguese, though impelled by a similar passion
for conquest, were more eager for trade than their power- !
ful and often domineering Spanish neighbors, i
Portugal. _- J ., • 1 • J • I
They oppressed their colonies, were greedy. m !
their commercial strivings, maltreated the weak natives of
Brnzil and the West Indies, lacked administrative ability
and the spirit of progress, and suffered from want of a
well-balanced colonial system The Portuguese colonies
in America had much the same history as the Spanish,
their situation being similar. Brazil was of no great impor-
tance until the early years of the nineteenth century,
and made herself independent in 1822, — thus following
the lead of Mexico, which set up an independent govef'n-
ment the previous year.
20. French Policy.
France had no permanent colonies in America before
the seventeenth century. Port Royal was planted in
1604, and Quebec not until four years later. The P'rench
were good fighters, enterprising, and while not eager
1497-1763] France. 49
to colonize, were capable of adapting themselves to new
conditions; they had the capacity to carry their ideas
with them across the seas, and thev readily
France. ... i . , , , . . ^ ^
assimilated with the aborigines. While freely
intermarrying with the natives, unlike the Spaniards
they rather improved the savage stock than were de-
graded by it. They had the faculty of making the red
barbarian a boon companion, and of inducing him to
serve them and fight for them ; indeed, since their colo-
nizing enterprises were based on the fur-trade, their
opposition to the advance of English agricultural posses-
sion was, like that of the Indians, fundamental. The
French and the savages were therefore united in a
common cause against a common foe.
The Breton and Norman merchant-seamen who went
out to Newfoundland and carried on fisheries and the
fur-trade paved the way for the future throng of emi-
grants. As colonizers the French worked quietly and
persistently, and would have succeeded, had not their
enterprises been ruined by their unfortunate political and
ecclesiastical policy and the mismanagement of their
rulers. Louis XIV. was capricious and extravagant.
His court was a nest of intrigue, corruption, pecula-
tion, jealousies, and dissensions. The Huguenots, who
represented the industrial classes, began the French
colonization of America; but we have seen how sadly
their government neglected them in Florida. Finally,
when the revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) re-
sulted in driving them from home, and they were eager
to join their lot with that of their countrymen in
Canada, priest-rule prescribed their deliberate exclusion
from the colonies, — which they could have made a New
France in fact, — and thus forced them to contribute their
strength to the rival English settlements farther down the
coast. The government was in some respects ovei>
4
5C Colonization a^id Colonists. iCh. lii.|
liberal to its North American colonies, — it aided them i
financially to an extent unknown elsewhere; but the^
were not self-governed, and the king continually inter-
fered with the commercial companies, which in a large
measure controlled the colonies, so that a favor granted
through corrupt influences to-day might to-morrow be
revoked by counter-influences equally corrupt. Pater-
nahsm, centralization, bureaucratic government, official
rottenness, instability of system, religious exclusiveness,
and a vicious system of land-tenure were the prime causes
of the ruin of New France; although we must not forget
that the centre of its power had been planted in an in-
hospitable climate, and that its far-reaching water-system
tempted the inhabitants into the forests and cultivated the
fur-trade at the expense of agriculture, thereby placing
the province at a disadvantage from the start. j
21. Dutch and Swedish Policy.
The burden of over-population with which Spain,]
France, and Portugal were troubled, and to relieve thej
pressure of which was one of the motives of
their colonizing efforts, was not felt by Hol-
land ; for despite the fact that she sustained a more
dense population than any other European State, her
citizens were prosperous. They were not stirred, like
neighboring peoples, by the impulse of emigration. Pre-
eminently a trading nation, Holland sought commerce
rather than extension of empire. Long the chief carrier
of Europe before striking into a broader field, she fol-
lowed in the steps of the Portuguese, and by the opening
of the seventeenth century took rank as a colonizing
power. Her most fruitful labors were in the East rather
than in the West. It was in the attempt to find the
northwest passage to India that Hudson discovered the
river which bears his name. With the Dutch, though
1609-1664.1 Holland and Sweden. 5 1
yyyy
religious reformers, religion was secondary to trade. So
long as trade was good, they were patient under insult
and outrage. Individually they made but little impress
upon the community. Commerce was chiefly conducted
through large chartered companies, minutely managed
in Holland. Dutch colonies declined because their com-
mercial system was non-progressive and unsound; they
appear to have been unable to rise out of the trader
state. Yet we must not forget that Holland was of
small size and had overbearing, jealous neighbors ; her
long and heroic struggle with Spain tended greatly to
delay her efforts to trade in and colonize the New
World.
The Swedish colony on the Delaware was planned by
authority of Gustavus Adolphus on broad, liberal prin-
ciples ; he hoped it would become " the jewel
of his kingdom." But while it throve for a
time and gave much promise of endurance, the Dutch
soon overpowered it. Had the Swedish monarch lived
to carry out the design, doubtless he would have proved
that Scandinavians could successfully maintain an inde-
pendent province in the New World. Like the Germans,
however, they have in later years been in the main con-
tent to colonize as the subjects of foreign governments.
22. English Policy.
England .remains the only country which planted pop-
ulous colonies within the present United States and re-
tained them long after they were planted. Her
insular position and fine harbors have given her
a race of sailors; her climate has proved favorable for
rearing a hardy people, who, secure in their boundaries
and not necessarily entangled in Continental affairs, have
been left free to develop and to push independent enter-
prises. As regards American exploration, the fact that
52 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. TIL
England is the westernmost State in Europe had at first
much to do with her pre-eminence. Until the close of
the sixteenth century England's resources were slender,
and her government was not desirous of incurring the
hostility of stronger European neighbors by poaching too
freely on their colonial preserves. Cabot went out at
his own cost. Drake's operations, while adding to the
glory of England, and directly favored by Queen Eliza-
beth, were continually endangering her with Spain. But
in the face of all discouragements, the sixteenth century
was a notable training period for English sea-rovers.
The records of the age are aglow with the deeds of the
Cabots, Frobisher, Davis. Drake, Cavendish, Gilbert,
Raleigli, Grenville, and their like, who, while invariably
failing in their persistent efforts at colonization, were
charting the American coast-line, making the New World
familiar to their countrymen, and striking out shorter
paths across the Atlantic. At first outstripped by other
European nations, England was becoming one of the
principal maritime powers when the seventeenth century
iDegan. Spain, weakened by the defection of the Nether-
lands, and still further humiliated by the defeat of the
Armada (1588), was by this time showing evidences of
decay, and France was the growing rival in the West.
English occupation in North America, like the
French, began with the fishermen who, following in
The En 1* h Cabot's wake, early sought the banks of New-
trading foundland. They were courageous, business-
^^'" hke men, who soon supplemented their calling
as fishermen with a profitable native trade in peltries.
The trading spirit has always been deeply implanted in
the Teutonic races; when England had gathered suffi-
cient strength to make it discreet to assert herself, we
find that her reachings out for wider territory took the
shape of commercial enterprise. The romantic advei>
1 500-1700.] English Character. 53
turers of the age of Elizabeth, as much freebooters as
explorers, were now succeeded by prosaic trading com-
panies, which undertook to plant colonies along the
Atlantic coast. In doing this they were impelled in
part by a desire to relieve England from some of her
surplus population; but in the main the colonies were to
serve as trading and supply stations.
In aiding these corporations, which succeeded after a
fashion in planting colonies, but failed for the most part
Scanty State ^^ reaping profits, the State expected increased
*'d- revenue rather than the spread of European
civilization. In England, State assistance to such un-
dertakings was always slight and uncertain; the strength
of the early colonies lay in the wealth and persistence of
their promoters.
23. Character of English Emigrants.
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were full of
trouble for the English people. Religious restlessness
English ^"^^ succeeded by revolution and civil war,
impulse to while crudc and oppressive economic condi-
emigration. . . , i , i i- i ^ ^•
tions mduced lawless disturbance and disaster.
Colonizing schemes were readily taken up in such times of
unrest. At first the notion prevailed that the colonies
might profitably be utilized for clearing the mother-country
of jail-birds and paupers, although with these went out
many who were worthy pioneers. It remained for the Ply-
mouth planting to demonstrate that only the honest and
thrifty can work out the salvation of a wilderness. Amer-
ica attracted the attention alike of traders and settlers
because its soil was supposed to be rich, because the
climate was temperate and not unlike that of England,
because there was plenty of room, and because the
unknown land attracted the adventurous.
54 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III.
Englishmen were soon found to be the best colonizers
in the world. An intelligent, large, well-built, and hand-
Englishmen some race, active in a high degree and passion-
as colonists, ately fond of out-door life and manly sports,
they are brave and enterprising, will fight for suprem-
acy, are tenacious of purpose, and carrj' with them in
their migrations their ideas, their customs, and their
Their cha- lavvs. They do not assimilate with other
racteristics, races, — in fact, there is inbred in them a
strong disdain of foreigners, and still more of inferior
races ; but they rule with vigor, and make a lasting
impress of their characteristics upon the communities
they establish. Although Englishmen in the seventeenth
century, when they colonized America, lacked many of
the refinements of civilization, were coarse in their tastes
and sentiments, and much given to dissipation and petty
vices, a fibre of robust morality ran through the na-
tional life. The leaders were educated, they were
ambitious for their race, and there was a healthy tone
to their patriotic aspirations. Simple and reserved in
manner, they prided themselves on repressing the utter-
ance of their feelings, entering upon the serious business
of rearing a nation in the wilds with most becoming
gravity. Their conduct was often bad, but they were
schooled in piety and reverence, and were steadfast in
high aims.
They had been trained in self-government, and were
sticklers for healthy political precedents. They were the
heirs of grim and sturdy Teutonic ancestors who knew
no rule but that imposed by "the armed assembly of the
whole people." The germs of modern English free
and representative institutions are to be plainly traced
in the forest councils of the Germanic tribes. In the
succeeding ages these institutions had grown irregu-
larly, but it was a growth founded on the irresistible
i6oo.j Town and County. 55
will of the people ; they had descended to the men of
the seventeenth century as the sacred heirlooms of
and their free generations which had freely spent blood and
institutions, treasure for the rights of all Englishmen to
come. The principle and habit of self-government were
deep rooted in the heart of every English commoner; it
was a part of his nature. And this principle, this habit,
he brought with him to America. English institutions
were merely transplanted to the Nev/ World, where they
developed with perhaps greater rapidity than at home, —
certainly on somewhat different and characteristic lines:
but they were and still are English institutions.
24. Local Government in the Colonies.
The primary local body in the England which these
first colonists to America knew, was the parish, or town.
The English whicli had botli an ecclesiastical and a tem-
town poraJ jurisdiction. Next above the parishes
was the territorial division known as the county, with
an independent magistracy and a judicial and military
organization adapted to the needs of a large rural area.
In making independent settlements on the
and county. . . ^ i. ^u tr r i • i
American coast, the English commercial com-
panies and proprietors were not establishing states ;
what they planted were but the germs of states. Each
detached colony had a distinct life, and it was natural
that, despite the general rules of government established
by the companies, the people should proceed at once to
govern themselves in their local affairs upon either the
town or the county plan, according to circumstances.
The flexibility of English representative institutions has
never elsewhere been so well illustrated as in the different
forms they took on in the American colonies, without
once departing from the integrity of historic models.
56 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III.
In the Southern colonies the country was traversed by
deep, broad river highways, leading far inland; the cli-
The county "^'^^^ ^^'^s genial, the savages proved compar-
the political ativcly friendly, and the introduction of slav-
unit in the i i r • • i
Southern ery tendea to loster an aristocratic class of
colonies; landed proprietors, — large plantations, there-
fore, were the rule. There were a few small trading
villages, but the bulk of the people were isolated, and
township governments were impracticable. The set-
tlers therefore adopted a primary government akin
to the English rural county, having jurisdiction over
a wide tract of country, with a commander of militia,
appointed by the governor and styled a lieutenant,
whose duties and authority were similar to those of
the lords-lieutenant at home ; judicial powers being
exercised by eight or more gentlemen, also appointed
by the governor, serving as a county court. It should
be remembered that the Southern county was not,
as in England, a group of towns, — it was itself the
primary organization. The parish was sometimes, in
newly settled portions, co-extensive with the county; but
more often the latter w^as, for religious purposes, divided
into parishes, the vestries of which had authority in
some civil matters. Again, for the purposes of tax levy
and collection, the county was divided into precincts;
and in some districts conditions were such — among them
the hostility of the savages — that the people of each
plantation or small neighborhood assembled for worship
by themselves, and thus became recognized as a separate
community, in some matters self-governed. These differ-
ences in local organization account for the terms "plan-
tation," " congregation," and " hundred," often me
with in early Southern records. The tendency of th :
Southern political and social system was to concentrate
power in the hands of a few men, in sharp distinction
i6o6-i775-J The New E7igla7id Town. 57
to the New England plan, where the people governed
themselves in small primary assemblies, only delegating
the conduct of details to their agents, the town officers.
In New England, the narrowness of the Atlantic slope,
the shortness of the rivers, the severe climate, the hos-
and the town ^^^^^^ °^ ^^^ savages, the neighborhood of the
in New French, the density of the forests, and the
"^^" ■ fact that each community was an organized
religious congregation, — people belonging to one church,
who had "resolved to live together," — led to the estab-
lishment of more or less compact communities, called
towns; and these were the political and ecclesiastical
units. Since the conditions were changed, some features
of the English parish were modified to suit the more
primitive necessities of life in the wilderness. Thus we
find that here and there in New England was a reversion
to older Teutonic forms, although of this significant fact
the colonists themselves were unaware ; for the now
Unconscious familiar truth that the ancestry of our in-
reversion to stitutions reaches back to the bes^inninsfs of
older feu- * o
tonic forms, the race, had not then been discovered. Not
only was the English town government practically repro-
duced on American soil, with such changes as were
adapted to the new environment, but the titles of the
town officials were, in many cases, borrowed from the
mother-land. When the first town meeting was held,
English local government had been successfully grafted
upon the New World.
In the middle colonies, which partook of the climatic
characteristics of both their Northern and Southern
The mixed neighbors, and had a population made up
midd'ie '" ^'^^ of various nationalities, there were compact
colonies. trading towns as well as large agricultural
regions; and there we find a mixed system, of both
townships and counties.
58 Colonization and Colonists. [Ch hi
With all these differences in form, the principle at
ivork was the same. From the beginning the American
Differences colonists were hampered in the work of their
only in form, general assemblies, at first by commercial com-
panies, and then by royal and proprietary interference;
nevertheless, in the conduct of their purely local affairs
they often exercised a greater degree of freedom than
their brethren in England. It is the purpose of this
and succeeding volumes to show how, amid many shift-
ings, unions, and divisions, these isolated, self-governing
Enghsh colonies, planted independently here and there
in the American wilds, unconscious of the great future
before them, were, by an orderly, logical progression of
events, the trend of which was often not noticeable to
the men of the time, successfully merged, at first into
states, and finally into a nation.
25. Colonial Governments.
The colonists were accustomed in England to specific
ranks and orders of society. In America, while there
Social were from the first sharp social distinctions,
distinctions, ^he fact that the great body of the settlers be-
gan life in the wilderness side by side, on an equal basis,
was favorable to a democratic sentiment. Nobility was
connected, in Enghsh minds, with great landed estates,
of which there were few in America outside of Vir-
ginia, Maryland, South Carolina, and New York. Under
Locke's constitution it was attempted by the proprieta-
ries formally to divide Carolina society into groups, with
hereditary titles ; but the project could not be carried
out. Nevertheless, Southern society was in the main as
distinctly stratified, after the introduction of slavery, as
though titles had existed. New England life was calcu-
lated strongly to foster the spirit of independence ; and
the .slave class was not large enough materially to affect
i6o6-i 775-1 Colonial Governments. 59
social conditions. Still, there was an acknowledged and
respected aristocracy, founded on ancestry, education,
commercial success, and individual merit, but lacking
staying qualities; for it had neither large estates nor
primogeniture to back it. ■ The scheme of Lord Brooke,
Lord Say and Sele, and others, to introduce hereditary
rank in Massachusetts (1636) fortunately failed to receive
popular approval.
Used as they were to the exercise of the royal pre-
rogative, the colonists accepted the free exercise by
Colonial ^hc governors of the privileges of appoint-
governors. mcnt and veto, whether those officials were
selected by the Crown or by proprietaries. In ad-
dition to these privileges, the governor of a royal
colony was the bearer of royal instructions and the
medium of royal directions ; he was the executive
officer, the granter of pardons (except in capital cases),
the commander of the military and naval forces, the
head of the established church, and the chief of the
judiciary ; and he could summon, prorogue, and dis-
solve the assembly. The assembly held the purse-
strings, however, and the actual power of the governor
was consequently in a great degree curtailed. The
record of colonial politics is largely made up of dis-
putes between the representatives and the executive,
in which the assembly usually won by withholding
supplies until the governor came to its terms.
The judiciary system was alike in no two colonies,
but there were certain resemblances in all. There were
Theiudi- commonly local justices of the peace, with
ciary. jurisdiction limited to petty civil cases ; some-
times these were elected by the freeholders of the
district, but generally they were appointed by the
governor. Then came the county courts, the members of
which were appointees of the governor, except in New
6o Colonization and Colonists. [Ch. III.
Jersey, where they were elected. These county judges
were representative gentlemen, and not trained in the
law. They had criminal jurisdiction except in capital
cases, and final jurisdiction in civil cases not involving
large amounts ; the limit was ^'20 in Virginia and £2 in
Maryland, and elsewhere between these extremes. Next
was the provincial, supreme, or general court : ordinarily
this was composed of the governor, as chancellor, and
the members of his council; but in several colonies this
colonial court was a separate body, appointed by the
governor, who, with his council, constituted a still higher
court of appeals and chancery. From the highest courts
a suitor could, in important cases, carry his appeal to the
king in council. The common and statute law of Eng«
land prevailed when provincial law was silent on the
subject. Sometimes questions arose upon the validity
of provincial statutes: when the courts found that
they were not in accordance with the charter, they
declared them void; but the matter could be carried
to the English Privy Council for ultimate decision.
This was the germ of the power of the United States
Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of
a law.
At first American territory was granted to chartered
commercial companies, — notably the Virginia Company
and the Council for New England, — which
sought to control their colonies from England,
under the supervision of the Crown. The Virginia
colony was early deprived of its charter by the Crown
(1624); but members of the Massachusetts Company
boldly emigrated to America, and taking advantage of
the confusion in England, kept up a practically inde-
pendent state for two generations; though at last (1692)
the people were obliged to accept a new charter estab-
lishing a royal governor. The colonies of Rhode Island
x6o6-i775l Charters, 6l
and Connecticut obtained charters direct from England,
with privileges of self-government, and lived under them
till long after they had become States. New Hampshire,
after having been governed by Massachusetts, became a
royal province without having passed through the charter
or proprietary stage. The other colonies were proprie-
tary, but all finally reverted to the Crown. Maryland and
Pennsylvania and Delaware were still proprietary at the
outbreak of the Revolution, having been restored to the
proprietors after reversion.
The two houses of Parliament had made the colonists
accustomed to the bicameral system. In Virginia under
company management the corporation council
Two houses. . t- i i i • - 1
m England served m a measure as the upper
house, with powers of general direction. In Massachu-
setts (where the company was technically resident in the
colony), and in the proprietary and royal colonies as well,
there was for a long time but one house. Finally, often
as the result of dissensions between the deputies and the
officials, the former came to sit apart, — the colonies thus
in most cases returning to the English system of two
houses ; but the council was small, and had administrative
functions which made it very different from the House
of Lords. These colonial assemblies were schools for
the cultivation of the spirit of independence. Burke
said the colonists " had formed within themselves, either
by royal instruction or royal charter, assemblies so ex-
ceedingly resembling a parliament in all their forms,
functions, and powers that it was impossible they should
not imbibe some opinion of a similar authority."
26. Privileges of the Colonists.
Electoral qualifications varied greatly. In the consid-
eration of this, as well as of other institutions, Mas-
sachusetts and Virginia must be taken as types of
62 Colonization and ColonisiSo [Ch. III.
opposite systems, the other colonies departing more or
less from them, according to proximity. Originally in
The suf- Massachusetts, " any person inhabiting with-
frage. j^ the town " could vote at town-meetings ;
later, with the arrival of objectionable immigrants, this
privilege was restricted (1634) to freemen, — practically
all the members of the church, — and still later (1691),
to " the possessors of an estate of freehold in land to the
value of 40^-. per annum, or other estate to the value of
^40." In Virginia, at the start, all freemen were allowed
to vote. But it was afterwards decided (1670) that the
" usuall way of chuseing burgesses by the votes of all
persons who, haveing served their time, are freemen of
this country," was detrimental to the colony; and the
principle was laid down that " a voyce in such election "
should be given "only to such as by their estates, real
or personall, have interest enough to tye them to the
endeavour of the publique good." By the beginning of
the eighteenth century a freehold test obtained in most,
if not in all, the colonies. In 1746 Parliament added a
further qualification, in the guise of a general natural-
ization law, providing that a voter must have resided
seven years in his colony, taken the oath of allegiance,
and professed the " Protestant Christian faith."
The principle of representation, by which a few are
charged with acting and speaking for the many in the
Representa- Conduct of public affairs, has been familiar
tion. to Englishmen since the time when a parlia-
ment was convoked during the contest between John
and the barons (1213). The practice was adopted early
in the history of the colonies, — the first house of bur-
gesses of Virginia meeting in 1619; while in Massa-
chusetts, the refusal of Watertown (1632) to be taxed
without representation caused the adoption of the plan of
sending deputies to the General Court. The American
i6o6-i775l Rights of Colonists, 63
colonial assemblies were more truly representative of the
great body of the people than the English Parliament
of the period ; to-day, male suffrage is nearly universal
in England, and entirely so in all the British depen-
dencies, with the exception of the Crown colonies.
In the American colonies the execution of the laws
was as a rule comparatively an easy task. The English
Rights of colonists had been trained in the political art
the colonists, of self-control ; they had an abounding regard
for just laws and the courts ; they respected prece-
dent, and stoutly stood for the common law, or recog-
nized customs of their race. They were restive under
statutes which conflicted with the customary rights of
Englishmen, which had come down to them from the
earliest times, and had been confirmed by Magna Charta.
These rights had not been strictly observed by the
Tudor sovereigns, and many of the earlier settlers had in
the mother-country assisted in agitation for their renewal.
Now that they were transplanted to America, the strug-
gle was continued at long range with the Stuarts, thus
developing in the colonists a habit of resistance which
was to stand them in good stead in the troublous period
leading up to the American Revolution.
64 The South. [Ch. iv.
CHAPTER IV.
THE COLONIZATION OF THE SOUTH.
(1606-1700.)
27. References.
Bibliographies. — S. Kingsbury, Introduction to Records of Vir-
ginia Company^ 207-214; P. Bruce, Economic History of Virginia,
I. xv.-xix.; N. Mereness, Maryland, 521-524; E. Whitney, Gov-
ernment of South Carolina, footnotes ; Avery, United States, II. 411-
417, 434-438, III. 407-410, 412, 413; Larned, Literature of Ameri-
can History, 100-106; Winsor, III. 153-166, 553-562, V. 335-
356; C. Andrews, Colonial Se!f -Government, 351-354; Channing
and Hart, Guide, §§ 97-102.
Historical Maps. — Nos. 2 and 3, this volume (Epoch Maps,
Nos. 2, 3); Doyle, English Colonies, I.; MacCoun, Winsor, and
school histories cited in our ch. i.
General Accounts. — Lodge, English Colonies, chs. i., iii.,
v., vii.; Doyle, as above, I.; H. Osgood, American Colonies in
Seventeenth Century; Avery, as above, II. chs. ix., x., III. chs.
i.-iii.; Channing, United States, I. chs. v.-ix.; Andrev»'S, as above,
chs. ix., xiii.-xv.; Greene, Provincial America, chs. i.-v.; Winsor,
as above, III. chs. v., xiii., V. ch. v.
Special Histories. — Virginia: Brown, First Republic in
America, and English Politics in Early Virginia History ; Bruce,
as above; Fiske, Old Virginia and Her Neighbors; J. Cooke
(Commonwealths) ; L. Tyler, Cradle of the Republic, and Williams-
burg; R. Pryor, Birth of the Nation; J. Wayland, German Ele-
ment in Shenandoah Valley. — Maryland : Browne (Common-
wealths), Scharf, Bozman, Mereness, as above; C. Hall, Lords
Baltimore; B. Sterner, Beginnings of Maryland. — Carohnas : J.
Moore, I. chs. i.-iii. ; C. Raper ; E. McCrady, South Carolitia under
Proprietary Government; S. Ashe, North Carolhm, I. Lives of
Smith by Bradley, Roberts, and Smith.
Contemporary Accounts. — Reprints of Smith's True Rela-
tion, and other early documents : Force, Tracts ; publications of
historical societies and commissions of the several states; Carroll,
Historical Collections ; Brown, Genesis of United States ; Kings-
bury and Osgood, Records of Virginia Company ; Jameson, Origi-
nal Narratives of Early American History; American History
told by Contemporaries, I. part iv; American History Leaflets,
No. 27.
i6oo.] Efigland Overpop2ilated, 65
28. Reasons for Final English Colonization.
By the beginning of the seventeenth century it was
quite evident to thoughtful men that England needed
Overpopula- Toom for growth. The population of the
tionofEng- island had greatly increased during the fif-
seventeenth teenth and sixteenth centuries. The exten-
century. gj^j^ q£ ^^ wool trade had encouraged the
turning of vast tracts of tillable ground into sheep-
pastures, which elbowed large communities of farm-
laborers out of their calling. England at large waxed
great, the condition of the merchant and upper classes
was improved, but the peasant remained where he was,
the gulf widening between him and those above him.
The growth of the merchant class and their appearance
on the scene as large landholders, still further lessened
the feudal sympathy between peasant and landlord. The
land abounded with idle men. Everywhere was noticed
the uneasiness which frets a people too closely packed to
find ready subsistence. Starvation induced lawlessness.
^ , . . Colonization was thought by many to be the
Colonization ,,.. i-rr
a means of Only means of obtaming permanent reliei from
"^"^'^ ■ the pressing political and economic dangers of
pauperism ; and naturally America, from which Gosnold,
Pring, and Weymouth had but recently brought favor-
able reports, was deemed most available for the planting
of new English communities.
But the temper of Englishmen had somewhat changed
since the days of Raleigh's brilliant enterprises. A spirit
Chartered ^^ sober calculation had succeeded with the
trading com- increase of the mercantile habit. Raleigh
panics un- ^ ^ , , ,
dertake the was out 01 lavor, and there were no longer
**^'^" any private men who would undertake the
task of colonization. If it were to be done at all,
It must be by chartered trading companies ; and natu
5
66 SoiLther7i Colonies, [Ch. I v.
rally they looked upon all ventures with merchants'
eyes rather than statesmen's. The career of the Muscovy
Company, which had been profitably trading to Russia
for a half century, and the rapid successes achieved by
the East India Company, founded in 1599, were pointed
to as examples of what could be done in this direc-
tion ; although the obvious fact that Russia and India
were old and wealthy countries, while America was a
wilderness peopled by savages, appears not to have been
considered.
29. The Charter of 1606.
Gosnold, returning from his voyage to New England,
was ardent in the desire to establish a colony in the
milder climate of Virginia, and easily won to his support
six representative Englishmen, — Richard Hakluyt, then
prebendary of Westminster, and now famous as an editor
of the chronicles of early voyages ; Robert Hunt, a
clergyman ; Sir Thomas Gates and Sir George Somers.
two "brave and pious gentlemen; " a London merchant
named Edward Maria Wingfield; and John Smith, a
soldier. As a result of their endeavors, — seconded by
Sir John Popham, chief justice of England, and Sir
Ferdinando Gorges (page 41), — a charter was granted
by King James (April 10, 1606) to a company with
The London two subdivisions, — I. The London Company,
and Ply- composed of Londou merchants, who were
Companies to establish a colony somewhere between
organized ^j-,g ^^^^i and 41st degrees of latitude; that
is, between the southern limit of the North Carolina oi
to-day and the mouth of Hudson River. 2. The Ply
mouth Company, composed chiefly of traders and coun-
try gentlemen in the West of England, with chief offices
at Plymouth, who were to plant a settlement somewhere
between the 38th and 45th degrees ; that is, north of tht
i6o6.] Companies a7id Colonists, 6y
mouth of the Potomac, and south of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. But neither was to make a planting within
one hundred miles of the other, although their assigned
territories overlapped each other three degrees. Later
(1609), the southern colony was given bounds in more
specific terms, — it was to extend two hundred miles
alons: the coast in either direction from Old Point Com-
fort, and " up into the land from sea to sea, west and
northwest ; " this latter phrase being the foundation of
the later claim of Virginia to the Northwest.
King James, unlike Elizabeth, did not favor coloniza-
tion ; but he was induced to yield his consent to this
, undertaking:. The colonies established under
How the ^
colonies were the charter were directly under the king's con-
; joverne . ^^^j^ ^^^ ^^^ Under that of Parliament. The
government of the two proposed colonies was placed
in the hands of two resident councils, of thirteen mem-
bers each, nominated by the Crown from among the
colonists ; while above them was a general council of
fourteen in England, also appointed by the king. After-
wards, eleven other persons, similarly selected, were
added to the council in England.
The resident council was to govern according to laws^
ordinances, and instructions dictated by the Crown.
„ , . The royal instructions sent out with the first
Royal in- , -^
structions colonists to Virginia stipulated that the Church
Virginia of England and the king's supremacy must be
colonists. maintained, but the president of the council
must not be in holy orders. The land tenure was to be
the same as in England. Jury trial was guaranteed.
Summary punishment must be enforced for drunkards,
vagrants, and vagabonds, while the death penalty was
prescribed for rioting, mutiny, and treason, murder, man-
slaughter, and offences against chastity. The resident
council might coin money and control the extraction a*'
68 Southern Colonics. [Ch IV,
all precious metals, giving one fifth to the Crown. L
might also make provisions for the proper administration
of public affairs ; but all laws were to remain in vogue
only conditionally, till ratified by the general council in
England or the Crown. In another clause the king
declared that all ordinances should be " consonant to the
laws of England and the equity thereof." All trade was
to be public, and in charge of a treasurer or cape mer-
chant, — an officer chosen by the resident council from
its own membership. All the produce of the colony was
to be brought to a magazine, from which settlers were to
be supplied with necessaries by the cape merchant.
Doyle says : " The company . . . was to be a vast joint-
stock farm, or collection of farms, worked by servants
who were to receive, in return for their labor, all their
necessaries and a share in the proceeds of the under-
taking." As a pious afterthought, the colonists were
admonished "to show kindness to the savages and hea-
then people in those parts, and use all proper means to
draw them to the true knowledge and service of God."
The rights given to the patentees, represented in the
general council in England, were : free transport of emi-
The ri hts g^^^ts and goods, the right to exact a duty of
ofthe'^ ^ two and one half per cent on trade with the
patentees. ^olony by Englishmen, and five per cent on
trade by foreigners. For twenty-one years the proceeds
of the enterprise were to accrue to the company; after
that, to the Crown.
It should be noted that this patent, given by James to
the combined London and Plymouth companies, differed
Th kin • g^^^t^y f^o"^ ^^^^ granted by Elizabeth to
granted too Gilbert and Raleigh, for it prescribed a consti-
much power, ^^^^j^^ £^^ ^j^^ colonies, and left but little to
the judgment of the patentees. The latter, in their
eagerness to get ^ commercial charter, had allowed the
i6o6.] Settlement of Virginia, 69
king to assume an undue political control over their
establishment. It was fortunate for Englishmen, both
in America and England, tliat James was a weak mon-
arch. He might readily have used his supreme power
over the Virginia colonists, not only to browbeat them at
will, but to tax them unmercifully for the purpose of
raising money, with which he would be the better
enabled to bid the home Parliament defiance while at-
tacking the liberties of his people. He did not lack
desire, but was wanting in courage and astuteness,
and allowed those shrewder than himself gradually to
re-shape the American charter until, within twenty years,
Virginia had emerged into practical independence.
30. The Settlement of Virginia (1607-1624).
The London Company, of which Hakluyt, Somers, and
( Gates were the most active spirits, was first in the field.
The London A hundred and forty-three colonists were
Company prathercd aboard three ships, — the " Discov-
nrst in tlie o r' '
field. ery," the " Good Speed," and the " Susan
Constant," — which on the 19th of December, 1606,
sailed down the Thames, on the way to Virginia. The
composition of the party was not promising. Most
,„ of them were " gentlemen," unused to and
of the scorning manual toil ; only twelve were labor-
ers ; and among the artisans were "jewellers,
gold-refiners, and a perfumer." Adventure, mines, and
golden sands were in the minds of the company, and the
" gentlemen " doubtless thought they were out for a
holiday excursion. The fact that there were neither
women nor children in the expedition shows how little
conception these people had of the true mission of a
colony. The little fleet was in charge of Christopher
Newport, a seaman of good reputation, with whom
Gosnold was associated.
JO Southern Colonies, [Ch. IV.
Among the party was one of the patentees, — Captain
John Smith. He was the son of a Lincolnshire gentle-
man; and being a soldier of fortune, had
travelled and experienced adventures in many
European countries, — a brave, robust, self-reliant, public-
spirited, enterprising, humane, and withal a boastful Eng-
lishman, he has come down to us as one of the most
romantic figures in American history. Smith's active
temperament was not at first appreciated by his fellow-
colonists, and in a fit of jealousy on shipboard they put
him into irons upon a silly charge of conspiracy; and
though he had been named a councillor by the king, he
was not allowed to participate in the government for
nearly a month after landing.
On the sixteenth of April, 1607, land was sighted, and
the adventurers soon entered Chesapeake Bay, naming
Jamestown ^he Outlying capes, Henry and Charles, after
settled. i^j^g king's SOUS, and the river, which they soon
ascended, the James, in honor of the monarch him-
self. Fifty miles above the mouth of the river is "a
low peninsula half buried in the tide at high water,"
which they unfortunately selected as the site of a town ;
and landing there on the thirteenth of May, they called
the place Jamestown. Wingfield, one of the patentees,
was chosen president of the resident council, explor-
ing parties were sent out, fortifications were begun,
and a few log-huts reared. The colonists had been
instructed by the English council to search for water
passages running through to the Pacific. A party soon
set out, under Newport and Smith; but on reaching
the falls of the James turned back. At first they were
troubled by Indians ; but peace had been made with the
neighboring chief before Newport left for England, the
twenty-second of June.
The marshes were rank, the water was bad, and food
1607-1609.I Smith in Control. 7 1
scanty at Jamestown. The colonists were for the most
part a shiftless set, lacking the habit of industry. The
A dismal heat was so intense during the first summer
summer. 4^^<^ fg^^r houscs werc built, and the tents were
rotten and leaky. The natives, being ill-treated, soon
broke out again into hostilities. When autumn came,
fifty of the colonists had died. "Some departed sud-
denly," wrote a chronicler, " but for the most part
they died of mere famine. There were never English-
men left in a foreign country in such misery as we were
in this new discovered Virginia. ... It would make
. . . hearts bleed to hear the pitiful murmurings and
outcries." The only men in office who had not in some
degree succumbed to the miseries of the situation were
Gosnold, a man of really superior ability, and Smith
himself, the latter having now attained to supreme control
by common consent. Smith compelled his people to
labor, — "he that will not work shall not eat," was his
dictum, — maintained trade with the Indians, among
whom he became popular, drilled the little garrison, kept
ap the fortifications, explored and mapped the country
and the coast, wrote appeals for assistance to London,
and was the hfe and soul of the colony for two years.
In 1609 Newport had come out with supplies and one
hundred and twenty emigrants, who again were mainly
"gentlemen, goldsmiths, and libertines;" and he promptly
sailed back with a load of worthless shining earth.
Smith found the new-comers seized with a frenzy for
discovering gold mines, and his troubles increased. The
company, impatient for returns, were disap-
Smith the . , , , . • . i , • ^i
savior of the pomted because he msisted on having the
colony. people Cultivate the rich soil, build houses,
trade with the natives, and explore, rather than go
seeking for gold where there was none. He appears to
have been the only man of authority in the enterprise
']2 SoiUhern Colonies, [Ch. iv
who understood the true conditions of colonization. He
had repeatedly urged the patentees in London to cease
sending him gentlemen, idlers, and curious handicrafts-
men, and instead of such to ship " carpenters, husband-
men gardeners, fishermen, blacksmiths, masons, and
diggers up of trees' roots;'' and insisted that they "as
yet must not look for profitable returning." To Smith
we owe it that Jamestown lived through all its early dis-
asters, so that when he left it, in October, 1609, it
had acquired a foothold and was the nucleus of per-
manent setdement in Virginia. He never again returned
to the colony, although in later years we find him
diligently exploring the New England coast.
With the following year began a new order of things-
The London Company, stimulated by ill success, had
The king gained from the king many of the powers
yields some heretofore reserved to himself, and secured
ot his pre- ^ '
rogatives. the appointment of Lord Delaware as gover
nor and captain-general; he was authorized to ruU
by martial law, thus depriving the turbulent colonists
of numerous privileges heretofore given them. Dela-
ware was in Jamestown but for one year, being
succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale (161 1), who found the
Administra- colony in ill condition ; many of its servants
hons of Y\2idi defaulted, and there was a large defi-
Delaware ' =>
and Dale. ciency. In March following (1612). the com-
pany obtained a fresh charter, giving it still further
powers of self-direction and of dealing with crime and
insubordination, and adding to its domain the Bermudas,
or Somers Islands, — called thus after Sir George Somers,
who had touched at them in 1609 while on a voyage of
relief to Virginia. Dale, now possessed of enlarged
authority, met with excellent success in bringing the
unruly mob ot settlers under control of the military
code, and induced fresh immigration of a somewhat
i6i7-i6i9-] Charters and Burgesses, 73
better class. He caused the abandonment of the non-
progressive and unsatisfactory system of communal pro-
prietorship, introduced individual allotment, and broadened
the foundations of a prosperous State.
Samuel Argall, " a sea-captain of piratical tastes,"
followed Dale in the governorship (161 7), but was soon
recalled (1618), because the settlers complained bitterly
of tyrannical and mercenary treatment at his hands. The
liberals in England — ^ prominent among whom were Sir
Edwin Sandys and the Earl of Southampton — had now
Liberals gain gained control of the corporation, and were
control of fighting the king through the colony, with the
pany. result that Virginia gained in the next few
years political privileges wliich were never after wholly
relinquished ; the colonists, too, had, in the case of
Argall, learned the power of organized resistance, — a
lesson which long stood them in good stead.
The colony was granted a representative assembly, —
the first in America, — called the house of burgesses,
c- , , which was first convened in June, 161Q. In
first meet- -' ' ^
ingofthe the words of the '* brief e declaration," written
a few years later, " That they might have a
hande in the governinge of themselves, y^ was graunted
that a general Assemblie shoulde be helde yearly once,
whereat were to be present the Gov*" and Counsell w^^ two
Burgesses from each Plantation, freely to be elected by
the Inhabitants thereof, this Assemblie to have power to
make and ordaine whatsoever lawes and orders should
by tliem be thought good and profitable for our subsis-
tance." In this assembly Governor Yeardley (arrived
April, 1 61 9) and his council had seats and took active
part. The effect of this convention, composed of twenty-
two burgesses, representing eleven " cities," " hundreds,"
and "plantations," was greatly to restrict the governor's
power, heretofore quite absolute. Yeardley was a judi
74 Southern Colo7iies, [Ch. I v.
cious executive, and the settlement, in spite of many
difficulties, prospered under his rule. Men with families
began to come out from England; but an unfortunate
elemen*- in the immigration of the time was the class
Indented ^f indented servants, which not only included
servants. convicts and vagabonds, but was largely made
up of boys and girls entrapped on the London streets
by press-gangs and hurried off to Virginia to be forci-
bly placed in servitude for long terms of years, — the
nucleus of the " poor white " element in the South
Another and far worse disaster befell the colony this
year (1619). Twenty African slaves, the first in America,
Introduction Were landed and sold in Jamestown from a
of slavery. Dutch man-of-war. This was*the beginning
of a large and wide-spreading traffic in human beings
throughout the Southern colonies.
In 1622 Sir Francis Wyatt succeeded Governor
Yeardley, and brought out with him, as a gift to the
colonists, a most unexpected political con-
Further . - . r 1, f.i •
political cession, — confirmation 01 all liberties pre-
concessions. yjously granted, and definite assurances and
provisions for the regular assemblage of the house of
burgesses. It is no wonder that the king declared the
London Company, with its free debates and bold experi-
ments in popular government in Virginia, " a seminary
for a seditious Parliament."
The following year (1623) the Indians combined
against the w^hites, who had persistently maltreated them,
and more than three hundred settlers were killed. This
loss, which was a serious blow to the colony, was one
. of the grounds urged by James in annulling
comes a royal the Company's charter (1624). Thereupon the
province. settlers passed under the immediate control of
the king, — which was, on principle, an improvement over
government by a profit-seeking commercial company, hov'
1619-1644J Government of Virginia. 75
ever liberal the tendencies of the latter. The growing
of tobacco had by this time become an important indus-
try in Virginia, — forty thousand pounds being shipped
to England in 1620, — and both James and his son and
successor, Charles, received a considerable revenue from
taxes on the product.
31. Virginia during the English Bevolution
(1624-1660).
After a succession of inefficient governors, Sir John
Harvey came out in 1629, being the first serving under
, direct royal appointment. Harvey proved
administra- obnoxious to the colonists bccausc of his des-
«on. potic rule and constant attempt to brow-beat
the house of burgesses; by the latter he was "thrust
out of his government" in 1635, whereupon he hastened
to England to plead his cause before Charles. The
king, much incensed at the unruly temper of his people,
ordered the governor back ; but four years later, desirous
of mollifying the Virginians, upon the profits of whose
tobacco-raising he had an eye, the king supplanted Har-
vey, and again sent out Wyatt. Under his mild rule
the colony once more lifted its head.
Sir William Berkeley succeeded Wyatt in 1642.
While frequently quarrelling with the assembly, as all
Berkeley's ^^e royal govemors did, and eager for the
first term. spoils of officc, he was an educated, courtly
gentleman and a courageous statesman, though often
unscrupulous and overbearing. A man of strong
passions and convictions, he was a pitiless hater of
enemies of the State ; and in his estimation Puritans and
Catholics were more prominent in that category than the
marauding savages who skulked in the forests. A second
Indian uprising (1644) was vigorously suppressed by the
governor
y6 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv.
During the great struggle in England between
Charles I. and the Long Parliament (i 642-1 649), public
^ . , sentiment in Virginia was with the king.
During the _, , r t^ • • ,
Long Par- There were but few Puritans m or about
iiament. Jamestown, and they had for the mosi part
come in from New England under Harvey's administra-
tion ; their missionary labors in the conservative South
vrere unwelcome, and they were warned " to depart the
collony with all conveniencie," — while the Papists, who
had settled Maryland in 1634 under Lord Baltimore,
were not tolerated in Virginia under any conditions.
The execution of Charles (1649) naturally aroused deep
,,. . , indis^nation among^ the colonists, refugee Cava-
refuge for Hers from England soon joined them by thou-
Cavahers. gauds, and Berkeley seriously, but in vain,
invited Charles IL to take up his abode among his
American subjects. The extent of this sudden influx
of Cavalier immigration to the colony was so great that
while the population of Virginia was but fifteen thousand
in 1650, it had increased to forty thousand by 1670.
Parliament, however, was not disposed to allow Vir-
ginia to become a breeding-place for disloyalty to the
Parliament- Commonwealth, and appointed commissioners
arycommis- (i^^r-i). to whom the colouv was Surrendered
sioners take ^ ^ . . ^
possession, with Surprising promptness. " No sooner,"
wrote Lord Clarendon, " had the ' Guinea ' frigate an-
chored in the waters of the Chesapeake than all thoughts
of resistance were laid aside." The Puritan party at
once took charge of the government, ruling with modera-
tion and wisdom; and the colony, now allowed the utmost
freedom in the conduct of its home affairs, prospered
politically and financially under the Protectorate.
Among the commissioners was William Claiborne, an
able, resolute, and passionate Virginian, who was the
leader of the Puritan party, and carried on a consider
1631-1656.] P arliamejitary Control, 77
able trade with Nova Scotia, New England, and Manhat-
tan. He had been much before the public of late years,
, The grant of Maryland to Lord Baltimore
Claiborne's , , i tr. • • . . ,
quarrel with was regarded by Virginians as an invasion of
aryan . tj^gjj- territory ; and Claiborne, holding a royai
license to trade in that region, had planted a settlement
(1631) on Kent Island, in Chesapeake Bay, within the lin^-
its now claimed by Baltimore. Not acknowledging Balti
more's proprietorship there, he was summarily ejected.
The following year (1635) he led a party of rangers
against Maryland, compelled the Catholic governor, Cal-
vert, to fly to Virginia, and seized the government him-
self ; being soon expelled, however, by Calvert, who had
now secured Berkeley's support. As one of the Round-
head commissioners to settle the affairs of the colonies,
the turbulent Claiborne proceeded promptly to pay back
some of his old debts against the Maryland Catholics.
In 1654, Puritan invaders of Maryland, headed by Clai-
borne, who was now Secretary of the Province of Vir-
ginia, met the Catholics near the mouth of the Severn
River and worsted them, thus again obtaining tempo-
rary control of the northern colony. Three years later
a compromise was reached between Baltimore and the
Puritans.
Richard Bennett was the first governor of Virginia
under the Commonwealth (1652), being elected by the
Governors burgesses and receiving his authority from
Commmf- them. He was succeeded by Edward Digges
wealth. (1655) and Samuel Matthews (1656), both
similarly chosen. They quarrelled with the burgesses,
like the governors of old, but were worthy and sensi-
ble men, and when outvoted generally yielded with grace.
Clayborne's affair with Maryland and an unimportant
Indian panic (1656) were the only clouds upon the hori-
zon during this tranquil period.
7S Southerii Colonies, [Ch. iv
32. Development of Virginia (1660-1700).
When Oliver Cromwell died (1658), his successor
Richard, was accepted in Virginia without question ; but
Berkeley when the following year the latter abdicated,
recalled. Berkeley was quickly recalled, as " the servant
of the people," from peaceful retirement on his country
estate ; and upon the Restoration (1660) the king's party
The Res- was suffered again to take control of the gov-
toration. ernment, and Claiborne was dismissed from
the secretaryship. The return of the Royalists to power
was accompanied in Virginia by harsh measures against
Dissenters, by the enforcement of the Navigation Act
under which the colonists were obliged to ship their to-
bacco to English ports alone, and to import no European
goods except in vessels loaded in England, and by the
gift of the entire province to Lords Arlington and Cul-
peper. The Puritans, angered by the harshness and
profligacy of the church, by economic distress occasioned
by the navigation laws, and by the ruthless invalidation
of long-estabhshed land-titles, rose against the provincial
government in 1663, and were not repressed until several
of their leaders were hanged. The government became
corrupt and despotic, and for many years the people
were denied the privilege of electing a new house of
burgesses, — the Royalist house chosen at the time of
the Restoration holding over by prorogation.
The Bacon rebellion (1676) was an outgrowth of the
general discontent. The Indians were murdering set-
The Bacon ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^ frontier counties ; but Berkeley,
rebellion. accused of having fur-trade interests at stake,
and perhaps fearing to have the people armed, dismissed
the self-organized volunteers who proposed to go out
against the savages. Nathaniel Bacon, a popular young
member of the council, honest and courageous, but indis-
1 658-1692.] Bacon's Rebellion, 79
creet, took it upon himself to raise a small force for the
purpose. Berkeley refused Bacon a military commission,
and declared him and his rangers rebels, and sought to
crush them with the regular militia. Through the suc-
ceeding four months Virginia was thrown into confusion
by a warfare which resembled the stormy military duels
with which the South American republics have been sc
often harassed. The opposing forces had varying for-
tunes, and the fickle militiamen rallied under one standard
or the other, according to the direction of the wind. Har-
rying Berkeley out of Jamestown, Bacon burned the capital
to ashes, " that the rogues should harbor there no more.^-
In October he died, either from poisoning or swamp
fever. His adherents, having no other cohesion than
their sympathy for him, now scattered, and were caught
by Berkeley, who executed twenty-three of them, and
returned to Jamestown to renew his tyrannical policy for
a time undisturbed. But even Charles tired of his gov
ernor's harsh and bloody doings, saying : " That old fool
has hanged more men in that naked country than I have
done for the murder of my father." Berkeley
recaifed'by was Summoned to England, his departure
the king. being celebrated by the colonists with salutes,
bonfires, and general rejoicings. The king refused him
an audience upon his arrival in London, and Berkeley
died (1677) "of a broken heart."
The Royalists were now in full power, the friends of
Bacon discreetly held their peace, and the governors
were allowed to browbeat and rob the prov-
underThe incc at their will. The successor to Berke-
Royalists. jgy ^^y Colonel Sir Herbert Jeffries (1677) ;
after him came Sir Henry Chicheley (1678), Thomas
Lord Culpeper, one of the proprietors under the king's
patent (1679), Lord Howard of Effingham (1684), Sir
Francis Nicholson (1690), Sir Edmund Andros (1692).
8o Southern Colonies* [Cn iv
and Nicholson again (1698). During the administration
of Culpeper, who was a greedy extortionist, the tobacco-
planters rose in rebellion because of the disaster to their
industry brought on by the attempt of government to
regulate prices and establish ports of shipment. The
governor hanged a number of the offenders, and still fur-
ther added to his unpopularity as a ruler and his noto-
riety as a rascal by arbitrarily and for his own gain
raising and lowering the standard of coinage.
These closing years of the seventeenth century were
sorry times for Virginia. Riots and consequent impris-
onments and hangings were ordinary events. Nicholson
told the gentlemen of the province that he would ' beat
them into better manners," or " bring them to reason
with halters about their necks." The people were dis-
contented, the province grew poorer as each new gov-
ernor introduced some fresh extortion, immigration
practically ceased, and the spirit of political independence
was torpid.
There were two or three gleams of sunshine during
this period of almost total darkness. Delegates were
V inia in ^^"^^ to Albany in 1684 to represent the
the Albany province at the famous council to consider a
plan of union for repressing Indian outbreaks.
It was one of the earliest attempts at the confederation
of the colonies, — a scheme which Governor Nicholson
persistently fostered, in the vain hope, it is said, of being
placed at the head of the united provinces as governor-
general. Again, under Nicholson's rule (1691), the house
Establish- ^^ burgesses sent Commissary Blair to Eng-
ment of wil- land to solicit a patent for a college. This
Mary was obtained, and in 1693 the agent returned
College. ^jti-, the charter of " William and Mary," the
second university in America, — Harvard, in Massa-
chusetts, being the first and Yale, founded in 1701, the
1684-1701-1 Progress of Virginia. 8i
third. The new college was set up at Williamsburg,
whither Governor Nicholson had removed the capital of
the province. Another event, quite as significant, sig-
Arrivai of nalized the close of the century. De Riche-
Huguenots. bourg's colony of Huguenots settled (1699) on
the upper waters of the James and " infused a stream of
pure and rich blood into Virginia society."
Thus, in the ninety years from 1607 to 1697, the pop-
ulation of Virginia had increased from a few score to
nearly a hundred thousand ; the dreams of speedy wealth
entertained by the patentees had been idle, but the hard
labor of Englishmen, supplemented by the forced service
of negroes, had built up a prosperous agricultural com-
munity. More important still was it that, through all
the vicissitudes of control, of government in England,
and of party in America, the germ of popular govern-
ment had grown into an established system, jealously
watched by the colonies.
33. Settlement of Maryland (1632-1635).
George Calvert, Lord Baltimore, had been one of the
members of the London Company as well as a councillor
in the Plymouth Company. From the begin-
vert, Lord ning of the century he had taken a strong
Baltimore interest in English colonization schemes. A
staunch Roman Catholic, he was (161 8-1 625) principal
Secretary of State to James I. Baltimore's observation
of the turbulent career of Virginia had convinced him
that a commercial colony could not be successful, because
of divided administration and the mercenary aims of non-
resident stockholders. He went out with a colony to
Newfoundland (1621) under a proprietary patent, but the
inhospitable climate was against the project. In 1629 he
landed 4t Jamestown with forty Catholic colonists ; but
6
82 Southern Colonies, [Ch. iv.
the Protestant Virginians made it uncomfortable for the
Romanists, and they returned to England.
Baltimore thereupon secured a charter from King
Charles I. for a tract of country north of Potomac river,
Secures a ^^ limits being imperfectly defined, — on
charter for the north, the fortieth degree of latitude (the
^"^^ ^" * southern boundary of the Plymouth Company's
patent); on the west, a line drawn due north from the
head of the Potomac. The lands embraced in this grant
were within the bounds of Virginia, as specified in 1609,
but had thus far not been occupied. At the king's re-
quest the country was named Maryland, in honor of his
queen, Henrietta Maria. Lord Baltimore died before the
charter had passed the seal, and was succeeded in his
His son c il ^'&^^^ ^^<^ titles by his son Cecil. The prov*
succeeds incc of Maryland being made a palatinate,
Lord Baltimore was given almost royal powers,
the Crown reserving feudal supremacy and exacting a
nominal yearly tribute. The proprietor could declare
Provisions of ^ar, make peace, appoint all officers, includ-
the charter, j^g judges, rule by martial law, pardon crim-
inals, and confer titles. He was to summon the freemen
to assist him in making laws, which were to be similar
to those of England, but did not require the king's confir-
mation, and need not be sent to England. It was there-
fore impossible for the Privy Council to check or inaugu-
rate legislation in Maryland. The relations between the
Crown and his lordship being thus established, it was
left for the colonists and the proprietor to settle their
relation under the charter; but no tax could be levied
without consent of the freemen.
In November, 1633, Cecil sent out his brother Leonard
St. Mary's with two hundred colonists, — some twenty of
founded. whom were gentlemen, and the others laborers
and mechanics, — and in March following they founded
1629-1638.] Maryland Foiinded, 83
a town near the mouth of the Potomac, caHing it St.
Mary's. The troubles with Claiborne, the Virginian
Quarrel with who had made a settlement on Kent Island,
Clayborne. jn the Chesapeake and within Baltimore's
grant, have already been alluded to (page ']']^. The
dispute was a protracted one, and gave rise to much
ill-feeling and some bloodshed.
Many of Baltimore's colonists were Protestants. He
was, however, sincere in his desire for complete religious
Religious tolcration, and did not appear to concern him-
toleration. ggjf jn what his Subjects believed. The Jesuit
priests accompanying the party exerted their influence
Humane ^^ behalf of a humane treatment of the In-
treatment of djans, and a cordial friendship was soon es-
tablished with the resident tribes. As for the
JfiUd"'^*^^ settlers, they were thrifty and industrious, held
quality. their land in fee-simple, and up to the Com-
monwealth period there was prosperity and content.
The colonists were, however, not blind to their political
rights, in the midst of this economic security. In primary
Legislative assembly, in which proxies were allowed, the
?he^"rS-^"^ freemen adopted a code of laws (1635) which
prietor. the proprietor rejected because the former had
presumed to take the initiative, and for two years the
province was self-governed under the English common
law. In 1638 a set of laws drafted by the proprietor was
promptly vetoed by the assembly, and thus a deadlock
was created. The matter was soon arranged by com-
promise, with the utmost good-nature on both sides;
there was created a representative house of burgesses,
— in which, however, individual freemen might also ap-
pear, — Baltimore was granted a poll-tax subsidy, and
the people reserved to themselves the rights of self-
taxation and legislative initiative. The anomalous sys-
tem of allowing both freemen — of whom there were but
84 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV
one hundred and eighty-two in 1642 — and their repre
sentatives to sit in the general assembly continued, with
some variations, until 1647, when that body became truly
representative. Three years later (1650), the legislature
was divided into two houses, the burgesses sitting in the
lower chamber, and the councillors and others especially
summoned by the proprietor in the upper.
34. Maryland during the English Kevolution (1642-1660).
As in the other colonies, the outbreak of the civil war
in England resulted in serious dissensions in Maryland.
. The Puritan party waxed strong, and sympa-
dissensions thized with Claiborne's intruding Protestant
arise. colonists on Kent Island, The seizure of a
Parliament ship by Deputy-Governor Brent, under orders
from King Charles, resulted in popular disturbances.
Claiborne Claiborne, taking advantage of the disorder
drives out and comingf over from Virs^inia, seized the
Calvert
' government at St. Mary's. Governor Calvert
fled to Virginia, where Governor Berkeley gave him shel-
. ^,, , , ter until he was able to march back at the
but the latter
eventually head of a large force and suppress the Clai-
borne administration, which was weak and
mercenary, and had not commended itself to the people.
Leonard Calvert died in 1647. William Stone, a Prot-
estant, appointed Governor in 1648, favored Parliament
Growth of ^^ against the king, but was sworn by the pro-
the Protes- prietor to protect Catholics and give them an
^ equal chance with other colonists. The Prot-
estant party grew apace ; but while represented by the
governor and council, was in the minority in the assem-
bly. In 1649 a "Toleration Act" was passed, by which
Sunday games, blasphemy, and abuse of rival sects were
severally prohibited. " Whereas the enforcing of the
i642-i657v, Struggles in Maryland, 85
conscience in matters of religion,'* ran the preamble,
"hath frequently fallen out to be of dangerous cons^^-
quence, . . . and the better to preserve mutual love
and amity among the inhabitants of the province," no per-
son professing to be a Christian shall be " in any ways
molested or discountenanced for or in respect of his
or her religion, nor in the free exercise thereof."
The Parliamentary commissioners sent to reduce the
colonies (1652) displaced Stone; but his great popu-
Under the l^^ity caused them to reinstate him. Stone,
Protectorate, hovvevcr, now sided with the proprietor, who
wished to banish all colonists who would not take the
oath of fidelity to his lordship. The governor proclaimed
the Puritan leaders as seditious, and ejected many. The
Puritans therefore rose and called in Claiborne, who was
one of the Parliamentary commissioners, to help them.
In a pitched battle at Providence (1655) the Protestants
won, and followed up their victory by the execution of
several of Stone's followers and the sequestration of their
estates. Stone himself, though sentenced to death, was
reprieved. The party of Cromwell was now in full power
in the palatinate. Claiborne renewed his claim to Kent
Island; but the Commissioners for Plantations do not
appear ever to have recognized it.
Baltimore was finally restored to his proprietorship by
the English Commissioners for Plantations (1657), the
Baltimore re- assembly accepted the situation, an Act of In-
proprle^or'^-'^ demnity was passed, the right of the colonists
ship. to self-government was re-affirmed, and the
policy of toleration was again adopted. The result of
the proprietor's restoration was to enlarge the political
privileges of the people, and toleration succeeded Catho-
lic supremacy in Maryland, — a reflex of the tendencies
of the Great Rebellion in the mother-land.
S6 Southern Colonies. [Ch. IV.
35. Development of Maryland (1660-1715).
In 1661 Charles Calvert, eldest son of Lord Baltimore,
became governor of the province. His admirable ad-
ministration lasted for fourteen years, during
Calvert as which the colony greatly prospered, there being
governor. ^ considerable immigration of Quakers and
foreigners, — Maryland, with its religious toleration and
beneficent laws, becoming widely known as a haven for
the oppressed of all nations. Unhampered by the pro-
prietor, the assembly was reasonable in its dealings with
him, and harmony prevailed between them. The crops,
particularly of tobacco, were profitable, the Indians were
never a source of serious disturbance, and the people were
contented and loyal.
By the death (1675) of Cecil, Lord Baltimore, Charles
fell heir to the family title and estates. Thomas Notly
A spirit of ^^^ ^^"^ °^^ from England as deputy-governor,
unrest. In 1681 the new proprietor secured the pas-
sage of a law limiting the suffrage to those having free-
holds of fifty acres or other property worth forty pounds.
There was some popular uneasiness over this, as well as
over the encroachments on the Maryland grant made by
William Penn ; the Navigation Act, compelling the
planters to sell their tobacco in English ports alone, was
also fretting the people ; while the Protestants, most of
whom were now of the Church of England, and bitter
against Puritans and other Dissenters, as well as Catho-
lics, deemed the Toleration Act an impious compact.
Taking advantage of this spirit of unrest, and smarting
^^ ^ ^ „ under old grievances, Josias Fendall, an un-
The Fendall ° •'
and Coode worthy demagogue, intrigued with a retired
^^^° ^' clergyman named John Coode and instigated
a revolt, in which the aid of some Virginians was ob-
tained. The uprising was promptly suppressed ; but
^661-1729] Development of Maryland, 87
under the influence of the revolution in England (1688)
Coode again headed an insurrection under the auspices
of the Association for the Defence of the Protestant
Religion. In 1689 the associators seized the government
of Maryland, under the flimsy pretext that they were up-
holding the cause of William and Mary. They at first
won the favorable consideration of the king; but in 1691
Maryland Maryland was declared a royal province, and
^^^J^J''*^^^^*_ Sir Lionel Copley came out as the first royal
ince. governor. Baltimore's interests were respec-
ted, but he now became a mere absentee landlord. The
powers of government rested in the Crown, the Church
of England was established, and other Protestant sects
were discountenanced while practically tolerated, but
Catholics were persecuted.
The capital was removed from St. Mary's, the centre
of the Catholic interest, to Annapolis, — first settled by
Puritans, and now controlled by the adherents
Annapolis ii-i urin
becomes the of the establishment. Maryland s prosperity,
capita . heretofore unrivalled in the colonies, now suf-
fered a check, and for a term of years the royal adminis-
tration was signalized by religious persecution and a low
political and social tone, till in 171 5 the proprietorship
was re-established. In 1729 the city of Baltimore was
founded as a convenient port for the planters. The settle-
ment and growth of Maryland had enforced two lessons
which were never wholly forgotten, — the possibility,
under official toleration, of bringing members of different
religious sects together in one civil community and gov-
ernment ; and the comfort and prosperity attainable in a
well-governed colony.
36. Early Settlers in the Carolinas (1542-1665)
Between Virginia and Spanish Florida a broad belt o>.
territory lay long unoccupied. A Huguenot colony m
88 Southern Colonies. [Ch. iv.
1562 had had a brief existence there, and in consequence
France claimed the country as her share of Florida. But
^ , , the Spaniards drove out the French, and thus
Early colo • • 1 1 r 1 /- 1 1
niai at- unwittingly left the field to the north clear for
tempts. ^j^g English. In 1584 Amadas and Barlowe
led a prospecting party to Roanoke Island (p. 38), and
here also (1585, 1587) two of Raleigh's ill-fated colonies
spent their strength. The swamp-girted coast had few
harbors, the colonizing material did not possess staying
qualities, the ill-treated Indians turned on the invaders of
their soil, the sites of settlements were ill-chosen. For
a long period of years after the failure of these enter-
prises a prejudice existed against the middle region as a
colonizing ground.
But before Jamestown was two years old restless Vir-
ginians had explored the upper waters of some of the
. , , southern rivers, and by 1625 the re^rion was
Adventurous ' j J &
Virginians fairly familiar to hunters and adventurous
Nort°h^Caro- land-seekers as far south as the Chowan. In
hna. 1629 Charles I. gave " the province of Caro-
lana " to Sir Roberth Heath, his attorney-general ; but
nothing came of the grant. The Virginia Assembly took
it upon itself to issue exploring and trading permits in
the southern portion of the Virginia claims, often called
Carolana, to certain commercial companies, with the
result that the character of the country became generally
known. In 1653 a small colony of Virginia dissenters,
Roger harassed by the Church of England party at
^""^^"^lu home, were led by Roger Green to the banks
plants Alba. ' ^ &
marie. of the Chowan and Roanoke; and there they
planted Albemarle, the first permanent settlement in
what is now North Carohna.
Numerous colonizing parties and individual settlers
ventured into North Carolina during the next twenty
years, and purchased lands of th' Indians^ Among
1652-1663.] The Carolmas. 89
these were many Baptists and Quakers who had found
Jfe intolerable in the northern settlements. The story
... ,, s^oes that in 1660 a number of New En^:-
Miscellane- , , . .
ous coioni- landers, desirmg to raise cattle, settled at the
zing parties. j^Qy|-|-^ q£ (^^pe Fear River; but they incurred
the hatred of the Indians, and the colony soon melted
away. The survivors, upon taking their departure, affixed
New Eng- to a post a " scandalous writing, . . . the con,
l^^'^i',^ tents whereof tended not only to the dispar-
(..ape r ear -' i
River. agcment of the land about the said river, but
also to the great discouragement of all such as should
hereafter come into those parts to settle." This was
Colonists said to have been found in 1663 by a company
from Bar- q£ wauderers from the English community
Dadoes at o ^
Clarendon, on the island of Barbados, which had been
founded in 1625. These West Indian colonists, headed
by a wealthy planter. Sir John Yeamans, established them-
selves (1664), to the number of several hundred, on the
Cape Fear, in the district which soon came to be knowa
as Clarendon.
27. Proprietorship of the Carolinas (1663-1671)
It is probable that Charles II. knew little of these
mfant settlements of Virginians and Barbados men at
Albemarle and Clarendon, — which were some three
hundred miles apart, — or of the numerous sm'all hold-
ings between them ; but he cautiously confirmed all private
purchases from the Indians, in giving Carolina (1663)
The Lords to a coterie of his favorites. Chief among
fcquTre th"! ^hcse wcrc the Earl of Clarendon, the Duke
Carolinas. of Albemarle, the Earl of Shaftesbury, and
Sir William Berkeley, then governor of Virginia. The
proprietaries had been commanded to recognize the land-
claims of the settlers already on the ground. William
Drummond, a Scotch colonist in Virginia, was made
90 Southern Colonies, [Ch. IV.
governor of Albemarle, while Yeamans remained gov-
ernor of Clarendon, these two districts roughly corre-
sponding to the North and South Carolina of to-day.
Early pros- '^^^ proprietaries at first authorized a popular
perity. government on the simplest plan, and the set-
tlers, particularly in Albemarle, looked forward to a
prosperous career. A considerable trade in lumber and
fur at once sprang up, and the crops were good ; for
the soil proved richer than in any other of the American
colonies then occupied.
In 1667 Samuel Stephens succeeded Governor Drum-
mond, who went to Virginia, where he became a leader
in the Bacon rebellion. The Lords Proprietors
mentof in 1 665 secured a charter, with enlargements
bounds. q£ ^-i^gjj- bounds ; their new grants in terms in-
cluded the present territory of the United States between
Virginia and Florida, to the Pacific. In 1670 was added
the Bahamas, — neither the claims of Virginia nor of
Spain being considered in the grants. Stephens was
assisted by a council of twelve, his own appointees when
the proprietaries did not choose them. The assembly, of
twelve members chosen by the people, was a lower house.
Immigrants This first legislature met in 1669; and actu*
attracteJ. ^^g^ |^y ^ desire to attract immigrants, declared
that no debts contracted abroad by settlers previous
to removal to Carolina could be collected in their new
home. As a consequence, along with many desirable
colonists flocking in from the Bermudas, Bahamas, New
England, and Virginia, came others who were not worthy
material for a pioneer community. The proprietaries
themselves were quite liberal in their land-grants to
inhabitants.
Unfortunately for the Carolmians, the Lords Pro-
prietors engaged John Locke, the famous philosopher,
to devise for them a scheme of colonial government
'1669). It was a gomplicated feudal structure, entitled
1663-1669.] Proprietorship of the Carolinas. 91
the Fundamental Constitutions, not suited to any com-
munity, old or new, and now chiefly interesting as a
Locke's philosophical curiosity. The province was
terco^nsS-* *^ ^^ divided into counties, and they into
tutions. seignories, baronies, precincts, and colonies ;
and the people were to be separated into four es-
tates of the realm, — proprietaries, landgraves, caciques,
and commons. Locke defined " political power to be
the right of making laws for regulating and preserving
property." The objects sought to be attained in his
constitution were avowedly the " establishing the inter-
est of the lords proprietors," the making of a govern-
ment '' most agreeable to the monarchy, . . . that we
may avoid erecting a numerous democracy," and the
connecting political power with hereditary wealth. The
leet-men, or tenants, were to be kept from asserting
themselves by rigid feudal restrictions: "nor shall any
leet-man or leet-woman have liberty to go off from the
land of their particular lord and live anywhere else with-
out license obtained from their said lord, under hand and
seal. All the children of leet-men shall be leet-men, and
so to all generations." The plan was the dream of an
aristocrat ; it was an attempt to reproduce the thirteenth
century in the seventeenth ; it was artificial and un-
wieldy. While the rough backwoods-men could not grasp
its intricacies or understand its mediaeval terms, they in-
stinctively felt it to be a useless bit of constitutional
romancing, and would have little to do with it.
The only important result of the attempt was to un-
settle existing conditions and, especially in Albemarle, to
create a contempt for all government ; while the attempt
of the proprietaries to regulate trade strengthened the
too-prevalent spirit of lawlessness. Their officious lord-
ships had set out to establish the Church of England ;
but the result of their interference was that the Quakers
92 Southern CoIo7iies, [Ch. IV.
elsewhere despised, took advantage of the spirit of dissent
and obtained a firm hold over the Carolinians.
During this period of unrest in the northern settle-
„, 1 . ments William Sayle, who had explored the
The planting -' ' ^
of Charles- coast in 1667, planted (1670-1671) a colony
" on the first highland " at the junction of the
Ashley and Cooper rivers, — the site of the Charleston
of to-day.
38. The Two Settlements of Carolina (1671-1700).
The settlements at Cape Fear and Charleston being
more orderly and promising than that at Albemarle, tlie
N th C - proprietaries were henceforth more consider-
lina neg- ate towards them. North Carolina, as it was
proprie-^ ^ ultimately called, was practically left to take
taries. z2iX^ of itsclf for upwards of a decade, during
which the neglected colonists made a rough struggle
for existence upon their crude clearings in the wilder-
ness, those nearest the coast eking out their scanty
income by trafficking with New England smugglers.
Throughout the rest of the seventeenth century the pro-
prietaries had but a nominal hold upon the people of the
northern colony. In 1676 Thomas Eastchurch was ap-
pointed governor of Albemarle, but he ruled only through
deputies. Deputy Miller, collector of the king's customs,
a drunken, vicious fellow, added to his unpopularity by
attempting to browbreat the assembly. The colonists
„. p . rose in arms (1678), imprisoned Miller, chose
peper re- One Culpeper as collector of customs, and
'°° convened a new assembly, which confirmed
the revolutionary proceedings and controlled affairs un-
til 1683, when Seth Sothel was sent out as governor.
Sothel won the reputation of being an arbitrary and
rapacious official, and in 1688 the unruly assembly
•;663- 1 68o.] The Car o Unas, 93
deposed and banished him, despite the feeble remon-
strance of the proprietaries.
Meanwhile, Sayle's colony at Charleston made good
progress, the proprietaries being lavish in their aid of the
Charleston enterprise. While it was found that but few
propde-^''^ features of Locke's elaborate constitutions
taries. could be put into practice in a frontier settle-
ment, their lordships minutely managed the affairs of
the colony, leaving little to the judgment of the inhab-
itants. Sayle died the first winter, and Yeamans, the
founder of the Cape Fear colony, succeeded him as gov-
ernor ([672). Two years later (1674), the unpopularity of
Yeamans led to his being supplanted by Joseph West,
who ruled in a wholesome manner for twelve years.
In 1682 the Clarendon settlements, now chiefly centred
at Charleston, which had an excellent town government,
^, .^ embraced about three thousand persons. De-
Thnfty con- . . , ^ , -
dition of spite trade restrictions, the exports of furs and
Caren on. ^j^ii^gj. vvere large for the time, much live-stock
was reared, the cultivation of tobacco was extensively
engaged in, and the supply of fish was abundant.
The settlers were of various types, — among the colo-
nists being groups of Englishmen from the Bahamas,
Arrival of Barbados, Virginia, and New England ; while
Huguenots, j^ i6y() French Huguenots began to arrive
in considerable numbers, and had a permanent effect
upon the character of the province. A small party of
Scotch Presbyterians, flying from persecution at home,
established themselves at Port Royal, — the southern-
most of the English settlements. Two days' sail to
Scotch Pres- the south lay the Spanish town of St. Au-
routed by gustine. The Spaniards, jealous of this en-
the Spanish, croachment, and suffering as well from the
raids of pirates who made their headquarters in Charles-
ton, fell upon the little outpost of Port Royal ^1686)
94 SoiitJicrn Colonies, [Ch. IV.
and completely destroyed it. It was long held as
a cause of complaint in the Carolinas that the propria,
taries peremptorily forbade the colonists chastising the
Spanish, on the principle that a dependency had no right
to carry on war against a country with which the home
government was at peace.
The Huguenots, who had settled chiefly in Craven
County, were for a time denied all political rights,
Colonial although the proprietaries favored them. The
m Sout"* buccaneers, who frequently appeared in
Carolina. Charleston, were continually preying on Span-
ish commerce, and causing their lordships much trepi-
dation lest these sea-rovers should bring on a war with
Spain. The dissenters, who were in the majority, were
constantly warring with the Church of England party,
represented by the proprietaries. The trade restrictions
were exceedingly unpopular. Proprietary interference,
even when well intended, unsettled the public mind.
The colonists, while conducting their local political af-
fairs on independent English models, were continually
apprehensive of a change in the form of government, and
in general nursed many grievances, petty and great.
After the close of West's first term (1683) there was
some turbulence, and within the following seven years a
A period of succession of Unsatisfactory governors. Sothel
turbulence. (1690) was driven out by the Southern colo-
nists in 1 691, as he had been by the Northern (page
93), and Philip Ludwell came on from Virginia to as-
sume control. The proprietaries had at last
linasre- changed their policy, and determined to rule
united. \,o\\\ Caroliuas as one province, Ludwell be-
ing the first governor (1691) of the united colonies. He
was weak, however, and unable to restore order and pub-
lic confidence. Under his successor, Thomas Smith, the
assembly was granted a share in initiating legislation.
1 683-1700.1 The Carolina s. 95
It was not until John Archdale, a sound-headed and
conservative Quaker, himself one of the proprietaries,
The century Came out (1695) as governor that the colonists
fm jroved^ ceased their bickerings and the province set-
conditions, tied down into a condition of peace and good
order. Joseph Blake, Archdale's nephew, succeeded
him (1696). Under Blake's benign rule the century
closed in the Carolinas with a better popular feeling
towards the Huguenots, complete religious toleration to
all Christians except Catholics, and a marked increase in
the material prosperity of the settlers.
The Carolinas, which had been planted sixty years
later than Virginia, were in 1700 still feeble ; and it was
half a century before they began to be important colonies.
The chief interest of the Carolinas in the development of
America is the failure of the proprietors to stem or to
deflect the tide of local government Nowhere does the
innate determination of the Anglo-Saxon to control his
own political destiny more strikingly appear than in
the contentions of the Carolinians with their rulers in
England-
96 The South. [Ch. v.
CHAPTER V.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE
SOUTH IN 1700.
39. References.
Bibliographies. — Same as § 27, above.
General Accounts. — Doyle, Colonies, I. ch. xiii.; Cooke,
Virginia, ch. xxiv.
Special Histories. — Eggleston, Beginners of a Nation; Bruce,
Social Life of Virginia, and Economic History of Virginia; S.
Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, I. ch. i.; T.
Page, Old Dominion, ch. iii.; A. Earle, Colonial Dames and Good
Wives, and Home Life in Colonial Days ; M. Goodwin, Colonial
Cavalier; A. Wharton, Colonial Days and Dames ; Hall, Lords
Baltimore, lecture vi.; Channing, Town and County Government;
J. Ballagh, Slavery in Virginia; S. Weeks, Quakers; G. Bern-
heim, German Settlements ; many publications in Johns Hopkins
University Studies. See also, biographies of prominent men.
Contemporary Accounts. — W. Hening, ^/a/w/e^; narratives
enumerated in § 27, above. Reprints in American History told by
Contemporaries, I. chs. ix., xiii.; publications of historical societies
and commissions.
40. Land and People in the South.
Although of dissimilar origin, developed along some-
Traits com- what different lines, and having striking indi-
Smuhern*^ vidual characteristics, the Southern colonies
colonies possesscd in common so many traits — cli-
matic, geographical, social, and economic — that we may,
conveniently treat them as a distinct group.
Virginia and Maryland, topographically similar, have
numerous large and safe harbors, and the area of culti-
vation extends to the coast. In the Carolinas there are
LH. V.J Land and People, 97
scarcely any good harbors ; along the sea-shore are great
sand-fields and pine-barrens, interspersed by swamps,
but the country gradually slopes up to the Alleghany
foot-hills, the soil improving with the rise in
elevation. Throughout the Southern colonies
the country is drained by broad rivers running down to
the sea.
It is estimated that in 1688 there were but twenty-five
thousand persons, white and black, in Maryland, sixty
thousand in Virginia, and four thousand in the
Carolinas. The English were dominant in all
the colonies, but their supremacy was more strongly
marked in Virginia and Maryland than in the Carolinas,
where foreign elements (i 700-1 750) increased rapidly in
numbers and variety. The North Carolina lumbering in-
dustry attracted many immigrants, — in the main French
Huguenots, Moravians, and Germans, with some Swiss
and Scotch-Irish interspersed. The Huguenots, a par-
ticularly desirable class, were stronger in South Carolina
'than in any other American colony. While Virginia and
Maryland were chiefly settled by colonists direct from
England, the Carolinas were largely peopled from the
other English colonies in North America, the Bahamas,
and the West Indies.
In the South the rich soil was widely distributed, the
rivers served as convenient highways, and the climate
Uiiimpor- was mild ; except for protection from tlie
acter^ofthe Indians, there was no necessity in colonial
Villages. times for the massing of the people. Vil-
lages were few, and the plantations were strung along
the streams, often many miles apart and separated by
dense forests. The legislatures of the Southern prov-
inces from time to time endeavored to create trading and
m:inufacturing towns by statute ; but with few exceptions
these remained, down to the Revolution, merely places
7
98 The South, [Ch. V
of resort for elections and courts, with perhaps an inn,
a jail, a court-house, and two or three dwellings. What
trade there was at these cross-roads hamlets was of the
most petty retail character, and the traders themselves
were deemed of small consequence in the community.
Jamestown remained the Virginia capital until late in the
century, and during the sessions of the legislature and
at gubernatorial inaugurations was a favorite resort for
the wealthy and fashionable from all parts of the prov-
ince ; but it was a small, untidy village, with few of the
characteristics of a modern town except for its public
buildings. Williamsburg, its successor, was but little
better. The original capital of Maryland, St. Mary's,
was not worthy the name of town ; but when, in the last
decade of the century, Providence, rechristened Annapo-
lis, became the seat of government, the new capital soon
grew into an improvement on the old, several sightly
public buildings were erected, and trade expanded with
the increase of fashion. Charleston, the capital of South
Carolina, was the most important town in the South ; the
wealthiest planters in the colony lived there, leaving their
estates to the care of overseers; and trade, fashion, and
politics centred in the village, which was well-built and
handsome.
41. Slavery and Servants.
Society was divided into four classes, social distinc-
tions being sharply drawn. The lowest stratum was
Negro composed of the negro slaves, first introduced
slaves. in 1 619. For many years the number of
blacks was comparatively small, servile labor being
mainly performed by convicts and indented servants.
At first the African slave was looked upon as but an
improved variety of indented servant, whose term of
labor was for life instead of a few years. In 1650 there
Ch. v.] Slavery and Servants, 99
were but three hundred negroes in Virginia and fifteen
thousand whites. The slave system fast extended, after
this date, so that in 1661 Virginia had two thousand
blacks, and by the close of the seventeenth century they
nearly equalled the whites in number ; in South Carolina,
in 1708, two thirds of the population were of the negro
race. It was not until the blacks had become a numer-
ous class that we find the laws regarding them savoring
of harshness. They were especially severe after 1687,
when a negro insurrection in Virginia inspired the whites
with fear.|' The statutes for the repression of the slaves
now became fairly ferocious. In the eye of the law they
were simply chattels, being hardly granted the rights of
human beings. A master might kill his slave, for he was
but destroying his own property. Runaways could be
slain at sight by any one, the owner being reimbursed
from the public treasury. The laws against racial amal-
gamation were savage, but the actual treatment of the
slave by his owner was not so barbarous as the laws
suggest, — especially in the two northern colonies of the
Southern group. He was there comfortably housed,
clothed, and fed, and indulged in many amusements.
The raising of tobacco required constant care at certain
seasons of the year, but there was much leisure, and the
occupation was healthful. Work in the rice-swamps and
indigo-fields, in the fierce summer heat of South Carolina,
was extremely exhausting, and the negroes rapidly wore
out ; for this reason there was a tendency on the part of
the planters of that province to work them to their full
capacity while still in their prime. Nowhere else in the
South was slave life so burdensome, and nowhere was
the slave trade so active.
Removed from the slaves by the impassable gulf of
color, but nevertheless almost as much despised by the
upper and middle class whites as the blacks, were the
lOO The South, [Ch. V.
indented white servants. While here and there among
them were men capable, when freed from their bonds,
Indented ^^ rising to the middle and indeed the upper
white ser- class, they were of low character frequently,
such as transported convicts, the riff-raff of
London, and in some cases children who had been kid-
napped by lawless adventurers in the streets of the Eng-
lish cities. As servants they were under no gentle bonds.
The laws concerning them were harsh. They might not
marry without the consent of their masters ; an assault
on the latter was heavily punished ; to run away was but
to lengthen the term of service, and for a second offence
to be branded on the cheek. For numerous petty offen-
ces their service could be prolonged, and masters might
thus retain them for years after the term fixed in the
bond.
42. Middle and Upper Classes.
The middle class — small farmers and tradesmen —
merged into each other, so that it was often difficult to
draw the line between them. In South Caro-
lina there was practically no middle class, and
indented servants were few ; there existed in this colony
a perfect oligarchy, — lords and their slaves. In all
the Southern colonies the trader was despised by the
upper class, which was composed of officials and wealthy
planters. The men of the middle class were uneducated,
rude, and addicted to gambling, hard-drinking, and rough
sports; they were, however, a sturdy set, manly and
liberty-loving, and gave strong political support to the
planters.
The upper class, in dress, manners, and pohtical
thought, resembled the English country gentlemen of
Ch. v.] Middle and Upper Classes, lOi
their time. Here and there among them were men of
fair scholarship, with degrees from Oxford and Cam-
bridge , but the majority had but slight educa-
Upper class. . , • i i i , , r i
tion, such as was picked up haphazard from the
parish parson, an occasional tutor, or a freed servant of
more than ordinary attainments. The speech and man-
ners of the young were badly affected by being reared
among slaves. The life of both men and women in these
" good old colony days " was exceedingly monotonous ;
the chief charge of the former being the care of their
plantation and negroes, and of the latter the superintend-
ence of their domestic affairs and the training of house
servants. There was much visiting to and fro among the
county families, and dancing was a favorite evening
amusement; and there were annual visits to the capital,
where horse-racing, gambling, cock-fighting, and wrest-
ling were favorite recreations. The Crown officers did
much to keep the English fashions alive, and the inaugu-
ration of a governor was a brilliant social event.
The manners of the gentry were better than those of
the middle class ; nevertheless they drank overmuch,
had a passion for gaming, and sometimes engaged in
brawls at the polling-places. The fist, especially in
Virginia and Maryland, was preferred to the duel as a
means of settling controversies. The landed gentlemen,
born aristocrats, were indolent, vain, haughty, arrogant,
and sensitive to restraint, — a natural outgrowth of the
social conditions of the times. But they had great virtues
as well as great faults. There was a keen sense of honor
among them, and great pride of ancestry. They were of
good, vigorous English stock, especially those who came
after the Restoration, and in the struggle for independ-
ence, two generations later, furnished to the patriot cause
a high class of soldiers, diplomats, and statesmen.
102 The South. [Ch.V.
43. Occupations.
There were practically no professions in Virginia and
North Carolina. In Maryland and South Carolina a
litigious spirit prevailed, and there arose a
pSfessLnal Small body of lawyers fairly well equipped.
"^^"- Medicine was in a crude state. The clergy-
men of the English Established Church — except in
South Carolina, to which colony the London Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel sent out good material —
were as a rule sadly deficient in manners and education,
although there were among them many men of superior
attainments and noble character. This was especially
noticeable in Maryland. The dissenting ministers were
often of quite inferior calibre.
Agriculture was the mninstay of the people, tobacco
being the one great crop; although in the Carolinas rice
and indigo came to be close rivals. Naval
Agricuture. ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^5q ^ Staple export. In South
Carolina there was a greater area devoted to mixed
tillage than elsewhere in the South, and corn and cotton
were raised in considerable quantities. In both the
Carolinas cattle-raising was an important industry, the
large branded herds roaming the glades and forests at
will.
A great plantation, with its galleried m.anor-house, its
rows of negro quarters, and group of barns and shops,
Economic in- was in a large measure a self-sustained com-
dependence niunitv. The planter needed httle that could
ot the , , , . , 1
planter. be obtamed elsewhere in his own colony or
in the South, and conducted his commercial operations
direct with England, the West Indies, and the North-
ern colonies. Vessels came to his landing, bringing
the supplies which he had ordered of his correspond-
ents, and loading for the return trip with such materia
Ch. v.] Occupations, 103
as he had for export. Under this independent system,
whereby the rural magnate was his own merchant, and
negro slaves his only workmen, neither general trade nor
industries could flourish. Manufactures of every sort —
even tables, chairs, stools, wooden bowls, and birchen
brooms — were, along with many necessaries of hfe,
imported from England and neighboring colonies. There
were a few negroes on every plantation who were trained
to the mechanic arts ; and a small number of white
craftsmen found work in travelling around the country,
doing such jobs as were beyond the capacity of the
slaves.
There was a considerable trade with the other conti-
nental colonies, as well as with sister colonies in the
West Indies and with England. Small vessels
"^ were built in Virginia and Maryland for the
coasting traffic, though Englishmen, New Englanders, and
Dutchmen were the principal carriers. The independent
methods of the planters, with their systems of barter and
direct importations, suited the lordly notions prevalent
among them; but the luxury was an expensive one, for it
placed them quite at the mercy of their foreign corre-
spondents. Tobacco was the chief export, and barter was
based upon its value, which, despite legal restrictions, was
subject to great fluctuation. The importance of the crop,
as the basis of exchange, led to governmental supervision
of its quality, which was uniformly excellent except in
North Carolina, where public spirit was at a low stage.
The importance attached by the government to this in-
dustry is illustrated by a famous remark of Attorney-
General Seymour. In 1692, when a delegation from
Virginia were soliciting a charter for the College of
William and Mary, on the ground that a higher educa-
tion was necessary as a step towards the salvation of
souls by the clergy, he blurted out: " Souls ! Damn your
104 ^^^ South, [Ch. V
souls ; grow tobacco!" The Southern colonies had also
a large and profitable export of lumber, tar, turpentine,
and furs; from the Carolinas beef was shipped in great
quantities to the West Indies ; and rice, indigo, and cotton
were sent to the Northern colonies and England. The
trade with the Indians grew to considerable proportions
in Virginia and Maryland, but was long neglected in the
Carolinas.
44. Navigation Acts.
All manner of trade, however, was more or less ham-
pered by the Parliamentary Acts of Navigation and
Early at- Trade. In the time of Richard II. (1377-
proteS Eng- ^399) '^ ^^^ ^^^n enacted that " None of the
lish shipping, king's liege people should ship any merchan-
dise out of or into the realm, except in the ships of the
king's ligeance, on pain of forfeiture." Under Henry
VII. (1485-1509) only English-built ships manned by
English sailors were permitted to import certain commo-
dities; and in the reign of Elizabeth (i 558-1603) only
such vessels could engage in the English coasting trade
and fisheries.
The earliest English colonies were exempted by their
charters from these restrictions, but under James I.
^. ^ (1603- 1625) the colonies were included. For
The Com- ^ -^ -> ^ ^ , , ,
monwealth many years the colonists did not heed the
^*^" Navigation Acts ; in consequence, the Dutch,
then the chief carriers on the ocean, obtained control of
the colonial trade, and thereby amassed great wealth.
Jealous of their supremacy, the statesmen of the Com-
monwealth sought to upbuild England by forcing English
trade into English channels ; and this policy succeeded.
Holland soon fell from her high position as a maritime
power, and England, with her far-spreading colonies, suc-
ceeded her. The Act of 1645 declared that certain articles
1603-1663.] Navigation Acts. 105
should be brought into England only by ships fitted out
from England, by English subjects, and manned by Eng-
lishmen; this was amended the following year so as to
include the colonies. In exchange for the privilege of
importing English goods free of duty, the colonists were
not to suffer foreign ships to be loaded with colonial
goods. In 1651, a stringent Navigation Act was passed
by the Long Parliament, the beginning of a series of
coercive ordinances extending down to the time of the
American Revolution : it provided that the rule as to the
importation of goods into England or its territories, in
English-built vessels, English manned, should extend to
all products "of the growth, production, or manufacture
of Asia, Africa, or America, or of any part thereof, . . .
as well of the English Plantations as others ; " but the
term "English-built ships'' included colonial vessels, in
tliis and all subsequent Acts.
Under the Restoration the Commonwealth law was con-
firmed and extended (1660). Such enumerated colonial
Under the products as the English merchants desired to
Restoration, purchase Were to be shipped to no other coun-
try than- England ; but those products which they did not
wish might be sent to other markets, provided they did
not there interfere in any way with English trade. In all
transactions, however, " English-built ships," manned by
" English subjects " only, were to be patronized. Three
years later (1663) another step was taken. By an Act of
that year, such duties were levied as amounted to prohi-
bition of the importation of goods into the colonies except
such as had h^^^^^ actually shipped from an English port;
thus the colonists were forced to go to England for their
supplies, — the mother-country making herself the factor
between her colonies and foreijjn markets.
A considerable traffic had now sprung up between the
colonies. New England merchants were competing with
io6 The South. [Ch. v.
Endishmen in the Southern markets. At the behest
of commercial interests in the parent isle, an Act was
Repression passed in 1673 seriously crippling this inter-
colonial colonial trade ; all commodities that could
trade. have been supplied from England were now
subjected to a duty equivalent to that imposed on their
consumption in England. From 1651 to 1764 upwards of
twenty-five Acts of ParHament were passed for the regu-
lation of traffic between England and her colonies. Each
succeeding ministry felt it necessary to adopt some new
scheme for monopolizing colonial trade in order to
purchase popularity at home. It was 1731 before the
home government began to repress the manufacture in
the colonies of goods that could be made in England ;
thereafter numerous Acts were passed by Parliament
having this end in view.
In brief, the mother-country regarded her American
colonies merely as feeders to her trade, consumers of her
England's manufactures, and factories for the distribution
commercial ^^ ^^^ Capital. Parliament never succeeded in
policy satisfying the greed of English merchants, while
in America it was thought to be doing too much. The
constant irritation felt in the colonies over the gradual
application of commercial thumb-screws — turned at last
, beyond the point of endurance — was one of
a canse or -^ ^
the Revoiu- the chief causes of the Revolution. Had it
not been that colonial ingenuity found frequent
opportunities for evading these Acts of Navigation and
Trade, the final collision would doubtless have occurred
at a much earlier period.
45. Social Life.
The system of agriculture throughout the South was
vicious. Few crops so soon exhaust the soil as tobacco ;
and as this staple was the main reliance of the planters.
:h. v.] Social Life, 107
t was usual to seek fresh fields as fast as needed, leav-
ng the old planting grounds to revert to wilderness.
Travel and From this, as well as from other causes al-
•oads. ready stated, the settlements became diffuse,
md great belts of forest often separated the holdings.
The far-reaching rivers were fringed with plantations,
md the waterways were the paths of commerce. The
:ross-country roads were very bad, often degenerating
into mere bridle-paths ; there was little travel, and that
argely restricted to saddle or sulky, — the former pre-
ferred; for there were numerous streams to ford or swim.
It was not uncommon for travellers to lose their way and
to be obliged to pass the night in the thicket. Inns were
few and wretched ; but the hospitality of the planters
was unstinted, every respectable wayfarer being joyfully
welcomed as a guest to the manor-houses.
^ Some glowing pictures of life in these "baronial
halls," with their great open fire-places, rich furnishings
Life at the imported from England, crowds of negro
plantations lackcys, bounteous larders, and general air
of crude splendor, have come down to us in the journals
of pre-Revolutionary travellers. But the wealth of the
large planters was more apparent than real. Their v/aste-
ful agricultural and business methods fostered a specu-
lative spirit, their habits were reckless, their tastes
expensive, and their hospitality ruinous ; they were
generally steeped in debt, and bankruptcy was frequent-
The South Carolina planters, however, were more pros-
perous and independent than those to the north of them. !
The means of education were limited. Governor Berke-
ley, in his famous report on the state of the Virginia colony
(1670), said: "I thank God there are no free
schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not
have these hundred years ; for learning has brought dis-
obedience into the world, and printing has divulged them.
io8 The South. [Ch. v.
and libels against the best of governments. God keep us
from both!" Berkeley told the truth. There were not only
no free schools, but scarcely any that were not free.
Settlers were supposed to be capable of teaching their
own children all that it was necessary for them to know.
At the wealthiest homes tutors were kept, some of these
being younger sons of good families in England who had
come to America in an adventurous spirit, while now and
then a freed servant who had seen better days was
employed in this capacity, as was, a little later, the case
in the family of the Washingtons ; occasionally the
parish clergyman, when fitted for the task, instructed the
youth of the district, and here and there a young man
was sent to England to take a collegiate course. The
upper class as a rule had but meagre scholastic training
and few intellectual recreations, the middle class had
even a scantier mental equipment, while the poor whites
were densely ignorant. Berkeley's bluntly expressed
opposition to the education of the masses, as tending
to foster political and social independence, perhaps
reflected the sentiments of the majority of the ruling
order.
In Virginia there was manifested throughout the
century an intolerant spirit towards dissenters by both
the ruling sects, Puritans and Churchmen.
Religion. ^ , ,. 1^1 1 -n
Catholics and Quakers were persecuted, pillo-
ried and fined ; but the sturdy Scotch-Irish Presbyterians
made a bold stand, and were finally tolerated after a
fashion. In Pennsylvania and Maryland there was more
religious toleration than elsewhere in the colonies, — the
Catholics were in political control until the triumph of
William and Mary, when the Protestants came to the front
and harassed the Catholics with exorbitant taxes. The
turbulent population of North Carolina paid little atten-
tion to religious matters throughout the seventeenth cen-
Til. v.] Social and Political, 109
:ury, although there were some flourishing congregations.
There was no settled Episcopal minister there until 1701,
ind no church until 1702. The majority in South Caro-
ina dissented from the Church of England, the Puritan
element holding political power, and it was 1681 before
an Episcopal church was built in Charleston; the Hugue-
nots were not at first tolerated, but in 1697 all Protestant
sects were guaranteed equal rights.
The negroes and the poor whites formed the criminal
:lass, — a not inconsiderable element in the Southern col-
onies. The pillory or stocks, whipping post,
and ducking-stool were maintained at every
county seat, and were familiar objects to all. Paupers,
and indeed all persons receiving public relief, were, com-
pelled to wear conspicuous badges.
46. Political Life, and Conclusions.
The colonists, like their brothers across sea, were eager
politicians, and their political methods were much the
same as in the mother-country. Attempts
Political life. . ^ r t- i - . i * .li
upon the part 01 Lnglana to regulate the rais-
ing and selling of tobacco, in connection with the general
policy of commercial and industrial control, led to fre-
quent quarrels with the home government, which were
harassing enough to the Americans, but served their
purpose as a school of legislative resistance. The gen-
tlemen controlled colonial affairs, but found efficient sup-
port in the middle class ; to these two classes suffrage
was for the most part restricted.
The political organization throughout the South was
closely patterned after that of England, the governor
Adminis- Standing for the king, the council for the House
tration. of Lords, and the assembly or house of bur-
gesses for the Commons. There were four sources of
lie
The South, [C:
revenue; (i) quit-rents, payable to the king or the pro-
prietors ; (2) export and port duties, for the oenefit Oi
the provincial government ; (3) any duties levied by anc
for the assembly ; (4) regular parish, county, and pro^
vincial levies. The last mentioned were payable ir
tobacco, and the others as might be specified. The
system of taxation was simple, and was based chiefly or
lands and negroes ; it was moderate in extent, but no
always paid cheerfully, — in North Carolina, especially
there was chronic objection to taxes in any form.
The salaries of the government officials were small
but the governor — who was the executive officer, anc
Official rnight lawfully have ruled his little realm ii
rapacity. most despotic fashion, had not the assem
bly, as the holder of the purse-strings, continually kep
him in check — considered the salary a small part of hij
income. By farming the quit-rents, taking fees for patent
ing lands, and assessing office-holders, he reaped a ricl
harvest. Broken-down court favorites considered an ap
pointment to the colonies as governor a means of re
trieving fallen fortunes, and made little attempt to concea
their sordid purpose. The members of the council wen
often admitted to a share of the spoils, and officia
morality was much of the time in a low condition.
Thus we see that in the Southern colonies, in the yea
1700, there were three sharply-defined social grades amon
the whites, — the upper class, the middle class
Summary. ^^^ ^^^ indented servants ; with a caste sti
lower than the lowest of these, the negro slaves. Th
status of the bondsmen, both white and black, wa
morally and socially wretched, and from them sprang th
criminal class : the former were the basis of the " poc
white trash," which remains to-day a degenerating infli
ence in the South. The presence of degraded laborer
made all labor dishonorable, and trade was held in cor
:.n. V ] Summary, III
empt by the country gentleman. The economic condi
:ion was bad, there were practically no manufactures,
the methods of the planters were wasteful, there pre-
vailed a wretched system of barter based on a fluctuating
crop, and finances were unsettled. The manners even of
the upper class were often coarse, while those of the
lowest whites were not seldom brutal. The people were
clannish and narrow, having little communication or
sympathy with the outer world. Political power was for
the most part in the hands of the aristocratic planters,
backed by the middle class ; the people at large exer-
cised but slight control over public aflfairs. Religion was
at a low ebb, especially in the established church ; Bishop
Meade says, "There was not only defective preaching,
but, as might be expected, most evil living among the
clergy." The professions of law and medicine were
scarcely recognized. In looking back upon the life of
the Southern colonists at this time we cannot but con-
sider their social, economic, and moral condition as poor
indeed; but it must be remembered that there was latent
in them a sturdy vitality ; these men were of lusty English
stock, and when the crisis came, a half century later, they
were of the foremost in the ranks and the councils of the
Revolution.
112 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI.
CHAPTER VI.
THE COLONIZATION OF NEW ENGLAND.
(1620-1643).
47. References.
Bibliographies. — Winsor, III. 244-256, 283-294; Larned,
Literature of American History, 72-92; Avery, II. 421-423;
Andrews, Colonial Self -Government, ch. xx.; Green, Provincial
America, ch. xix. ; M. Wilson, Reading List on Colonial New Eng-
land; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 109-123.
Historical Maps. — No. 2, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 2);
Doyle, Colonies, II.; MacCoun, Winsor, and school histories al-
ready cited.
General Accounts. — J. Palfrey, New England, I. 47-268;
Winsor, III. chs. vii.-ix.; Doyle, II. chs. i.-vii.; Osgood, Colonies;
Lodge, Colonies, 341-351, 373-375. 385-387, 397, 398; Avery,
II. chs. v.-viii.; Andrews and Greene, as above, passim; Chan-
ning, United States, I. ch. xiv.; B. James, New England; G.
Bancroft, I. 177-288; Hildreth, I. chs. vi., vii., ix.; Y'lske, Begin-
nings of New England, I. chs. i.-iii.; Eggleston, Beginners of a
Nation; L. Mathews, Expansion of New England, chs. i.-iii.
Special Histories. — Ellis, Puritan Age and Rule; E. Bying-
ton, Puritans in England and New England, and Puritan as Colo-
nist and Reformer; D. Campbell, Puritan in Holland, England,
and America; M. Dexter, Story of the Pilgrims ; J. Brown, Pil-
grim Fathers ; W. Cockshott, Pilgrim Fathers ; F. Noble, Pilgrims;
J. Goodwin, Pilgrim Republic; D. Howe, Puritan Republic. — •
Massachusetts: W. Northend, Bay Colony; B. Adams, Emanci-
pation of Massachusetts ; C. F. Adams, Three Episodes of Massa-
chusetts History ; Winsor, Memorial History of Boston; H. Lodge,
Boston. — Connecticut: C. Levermore, Republic of New Haven;
E. At water, New Haven Colony ; Andrews, River Towns of Con-
necticut; C. Orr, Pequot War; state histories by Johnston (Com-
1 606-1614] Early Attempts. 113
monwealths), Trumbull, and Morgan. — Rhode Island: I. '^xo^X'
msin, Rhode Island: its Making and its Meaning; Arnold, Field,
and Richman (Commonwealths). — New Hampshire: Belknap
and Sanborn (Commonwealths). — Maine: Williamson.
Contemporary Accounts. — Morton, New England^ s Memo-
rial (1669); Bradford, Plymouth Plantation; Winthrop, New
England; Johnson, Wonder-Working Providence; Wood, New
England's Prospect; New England's First-Fruits ; Shepard, Au-
tobiography. — Reprints, i'orcj, i racts ; Arber, PilgrtVii Colo-
nists; Young, Chronicles of Pilgrim Fathers, and Chronicles of
Massachusetts ; Jameson, Original Narratives; American History
told by Contemporaries, I. part v.; and the many publications of
colonial and town record commissions, state and local historical
and antiquarian societies, Prince Society, Gorges Society^ etc.
48. The Hew England Colonists.
It will be remembered that the commercial company
chartered by King James I. (1606) to colonize Virginia,
as all of English America was then styled, consisted of
two divisions, — the London (or South Virginia) Company,
and the Plymouth (or North Virginia) Company. We
have seen how the London Company planted a settlement
at Jamestown, and what came of it. The Plymouth Com-
pany was not at first so successful. In 1607, the same
vear that Jamestown was founded, the Plymouth people
— urged thereto by two of their members, Sir Ferdi-
nando Gorges, governor of the port of Plymouth, and
Sir John Popham, chief-justice of England — sent out
The ^ party of one hundred and twenty colonists to
Popham the mouth of the Kennebec, headed by George
coony. Popham, brother of Sir John ; but the follow-
ing winter was exceptionally severe, many died, among
them Popham, and the survivors were glad of an oppor-
tunity to get back to England (1608).
In 1614 John Smith, after five years of quiet life in
England, made a voyage to North Virginia as the agent
Smith's and partner of some London merchants, and
\^yage to returned with a profitable cargo of fish and
New ^ ®
England. furs. The most notable result of his voyage,
however. wa§ the fact that he gave the title of New
114 New England Colonies. [Ch. VI.
England to the northern coast, and upon many of the
iiarbors he discovered, Prince Charles bestowed names
of English seaports. During the next half-dozen years
there were several voyages of exploration to New Eng
land, its fisheries became important, and some detailed
knowledge of the coast was obtained ; but its colonization
was not advanced.
Chief among the patrons of these enterprises was Sir
Ferdinando Gorges. In 1620 Gorges and his associates
The new secured a new and independent charter for
diarter"''^ the Plymouth Company, usually known as the
(1620). Council for New England, wherein that cor-
poration was granted the country between the fortieth
and forty-eighth degrees of latitude, — from about Long
Branch, N. J., to the Bay of Chaleurs. The region re-
ceived in this charter the name which Smith had bestowed
upon it, — New England. To the company, consisting of
forty patentees, was given the monopoly of trade within
the grant, and its income was to be derived from the
letting or selling of its exclusive rights to individual or
corporate adventurers. It had power, also, both to es-
tablish and to govern colonies. But the enterprise lacked
capital and popular support. Virginia, founded as an
outlet for victims of economic distress in England, ap-
peared to absorb all those who cared to devote either
money or energy to the planting of America. The reor-
ganized Plymouth Company would doubtless have waited
many years for settlements upon its lands, had not aid
come from an unexpected source.
The persecution of a religious sect led to the perma-
nent planting of New England. The English Protestants
. . under Elizabeth may be roughly divided into
groups in Several groups : (i) The great majority of the
England. people, including most of the rich and titled,
adhered to the Church of England; as the "establish-
s6o-i62o.] English Protestantism, 115
aent," or State religion, it retained much of the Catholic
itual and creed, but with many important omissions and
nodifications. (2) Besides the Catholics, few and op-
Dressed, there was a distinct class who wished to stay the
progress of the Reformation and more closely to follow
Rome. (3) The Puritans sought to alter the forms of
he church in the other direction, but they were them-
selves divided into two camps : {a) the conformists, who
vvould go further than the establishment in purifying the
State religion and in rejecting Romish forms, yet were
content to remain and attempt their reforms within the
folds of the Church ; and {b) the dissenters, who had
withdrawn from the Church of England and would have
no communion with it. The dissenters were themselves
divided: (i) there were those who wished to be ruled
by elders, on the Presbyterian plan, such as had been
introduced by Calvin and his followers in Switzerland
and France, by Zwingli in Switzerland and Germany,
and by John Knox in Scotland ; then there were (2) the
Independents, or Separatists, who would have each con-
gregation self-governing in religious affairs, — a system in
vogue in some parts of Germany. '• Seeing they could
not have tlie Word freely preached, and the sacraments
administered without idolatrous gear, they concluded to
break off from public churches, and separate in private
houses." Sometimes the Separatists were called Brown-
ists, after one of their prominent teachers, Robert Browne.
The Presbyterians and Independents were alike few in
number in Elizabeth's time ; but as the result of persecu-
tion under James I., and the impossibility of obtaining
concessions to the demand for reform, these sects steadily
gained strength. The Independents in particular were
harshly treated, so that many fled to Holland, where
there was religious toleration for all ; and from this branch
of the Separatists came the Pilgrims, who first colonized
New England.
1 16 New England Colonies, [Ch. VL
49. Plymouth colonized (1620-1621;,
Among those who thus departed to a strange land, to
dwell among a people with habits and speech foreign to
theirs, were about one hundred yeomen and
Ihe Scrooby . , r i t i \
congrega- artisans, members of tiie Independent congre-
""'^" gation at Scrooby, a village on the border be-
tween Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Headed by their
wise and excellent minister, John Robinson, and the
ruling elder of the church, William Brewster,
pendents in the party first settled at Amsterdam (1608),
Holland. j^^^ early the following year moved to Leyden.
Here, joined by many other refugees, they lived for ten
years, laboring in whatever capacities they could obtain
employment.
They lived peacefully enough in Holland, free from
religious restraints, but remained Englishmen at heart;
they saw with dissatisfaction, as the years went on, that
there was no chance for material improvement in Leyden,
and that their children were being made foreigners.
After long deliberation they resolved to emigrate again,
this time to America, far removed from their old perse-
cutors, and there in the wilderness to rear a New Eng-
land, where they might live under English laws, speak
their native tongue, train their children in English
thought and habits, establish godly ways, and perchance
better their temporal condition. Mingled with these
aspirations was a desire to lay " some good foundation,
or at least make some way thereunto, for ye propagating
& advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in
those remote parts of ye world ; yea, though they should
be but even as stepping-stones unto others for ye per-
forming of so great a work."
Obtaining a grant of land from the London (South
Virginia) Company, and a promise from the king that
1 620.] The Pilgrims. 11/
they should not be disturbed in their proposed colony if
they behaved properly, the emigrants sailed from Leyden
Emigration ^^ Southampton, where they were to take pas-
te America, gage for the New World. These Pilgrims, as
they styled themselves, were about one hundred in
number, and under the excellent guidance of Brewster,
Robinson remaining behind with the majority of the
congregation, who had decided to await the result of
the experiment.
Possessing little beyond their capacity to labor, the
Pilgrims had found it necessary to make the best bargain
possible with a number of London capitalists for trans-
portation and supplies. A stock partnership was formed,
with shares at ten pounds each, each emigrant being
deemed equivalent to a certain amount of cash subscrip-
tion ; all over sixteen years of age were counted as equal
to one share, and a sliding scale covered the cases of
children and those who furnished themselves with sup-
plies All except those so provided drew necessaries
from the common stock. There was to be a community
of trade, property, and labor for seven years, at the end
of which time the corporation was to disband, and the
assets were to be distributed among the shareholders.
The entire capital stock at the beginning was seven
thousand pounds, from a quarter to a fifth of this being
represented by the persons of the emigrants. The Lon-
don partners sent out several laborers on their account.
The voyage of the " Mayflower " is one of the most
familiar events in American history. Its companion ves-
, , . sel, the "Speedwell," was obliged to return to
I he landing. „ , , , . . , , ,
England because of an accident, and thus sev-
eral of the original company remained behind. The
adventurers first saw land on the ninth of November ;
it was the low, sandy spit of Cape Cod. Their purpose
had been to settle in the domain of the South Virginip
Ii8 New Eftgland Colonies. [Ch. VI.
Company, somewhere between the Hudson and the Del-
aware ; but fate happily willed otherwise. The captain,
thought to be in the pay of the Dutch, who were trad-
ing on the Hudson, professed to be unable to proceed
farther southward because of contrary winds. After
beating up and down the bay between the cape and the
mainland, and exploring the coast here and there, the
Pilgrims landed at a spot "fit for situation" (Dec. 22,
1620).
With true English instinct for combination against
unruly elements, the Pilgrims had (November 1 1), while
The social ^Y^'^b ^^ Cape Cod, formed themselves into
compact. a body politic under a social compact. This
notable document read as follows : " We whose names
are under-writen, the loyall subjects of our dread sove-
raigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God of Great
Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith,
&c., haveing undertaken, for ye glorie of God and ad-
vancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our
king and countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in
ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents
solemnly and mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of
another, covenant and combine ourselves togeather into
a civill body politick, for our better ordering and preser-
vation and furtherance of ye ends aforesaid ; and by
vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just
and equal! lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and
offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete
and convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto
which we promise all due submission and obedience."
The compact was signed by the adult males of the
company, forty-one in number, only twelve of whom bore
the title of " Master," or " Mr.," — then of some signifi-
cance. They elected Deacon John Carver as their first
governor, styled the place where they landed Plymouth,
1 620-1621.] The First Winter. 119
and entered upon the serious business of building New
England.
An exceptionally mild winter had opened, yet it was
with difficulty that they could provide adequate shelter
The first ^^r thcmselves, much less secure comfortable
winter. quarters. The stock of food they had brought
with them soon failed, and what was left was not whole-
some; in consequence of hunger and exposure, sickness
ensued, and about one half of the company died. Among
those who succumbed was Governor Carver; in his place
was chosen William Bradford, who held the office for
twelve years, was the historian of the colony, and until his
death (1657) the leading man among his people. Those
who survived this terrible ordeal were so few and feeble
that under ordinary conditions the Indians could readily
have massacred them. But owing to a pestilence which,
a few years before, had wasted the New England coast
tribes, it was many years before the aborigines were strong
enough seriously to annoy the Plymouth colonists.
Had the Pilgrims been ordmary colonists, they would
no doubt have abandoned their settlement and returned
^ . in the vessel that broucrht them. But they
Persistence rr i
amid adver- wcre of Sterner stuff than the men who suc-
^"^* cumbed to less hardship at Roanoke and on
the Kennebec, and their religious conviction nerved them
to a grim task which they believed to be God-given. It
was not for faint-hearts to found a new Canaan.
In November, 162 1, fifty more of the Leyden congre-
gation came out. By this time the people of Plymouth
had, amid many sore trials, erected log-houses enough
for their use, built a rude fort on the hill overlooking the
settlement, made a clearing of twenty-six acres, and had
laid by enough provisions and fuel for the winter. But
the addition to the number of mouths materially de*
creased the per capita allotment of rations.
I20 New England Coloiiies. [Ch. VI
The Pilgrims having settled upon land for which they
had no grant, it had become necessary for the London
adventurers, who backed tne enterprise, to
Patent from ^ ^ c i • , t^,
the Ply- secure a patent from the reorganized Plymouth
pan"y.^ ^°'"" Company. That company was working under
a charter from the king as the feudal lord,
giving it privileges of settlement, trade, and government ;
rights to colonize and trade, it was authorized to parcel
out to others, in the form of patents, and a document of
this character was issued to the adventurers in May, 1621,
50. Development of Plymouth (1621-1691).
The industrial system inaugurated at Plymouth was,
like that adopted for Jamestown, pure communism. The
The indus- governor and assistants organized the settlers
trial system, into a working band, all produce going into a
common stock, from which the wants of the people were
first supplied : the surplus to be the profit of the corpora-
tion. As in the case of Jamestown, the London partners
were not pleased with the results of the speculation, and
in harshly expressing their dissatisfaction soon fell into
a wordy dispute with the colonists.
Thirty-five new settlers came out in the autumn of 1622,
and thereafter nearly every year brought increase in the
Dissatisfac- number ; but the partners failed to ship sup-
uon of the pljes with the new-comers, deeming it proper
partners. that the colony should be self-supporting ; and
this neglect still further strained existing relations.
In 1624 the communal system was partially abandoned,
each freeman being allowed one acre as a permanent
Communal holding. This land was to be as close to the
system par- town as possible ; for the climatic conditions,
abandoned, the necessity for protection against Indians,
and the desire for ease of assemblage at worship, made it
1621-1627.]' Plyniotith, 121
important that the settlement should be compact, — in
sharp distinction to tlie scattered river-side plantations
of the South. In 1627 each household was granted
twenty acres as a private allotment ; but for many years
there existed as well a system of common tillage and
pasturage similar to that with which the colonists were
familiar in the English villa;:es. About the same time
(1627) the colonists purchased the interest of their Lon-
don partners for eighteen hundred pounds, and became
wholly independent of dictation from England.
Up to this time many of the new colonists were sent
or selected by the London shareholders, and were not
«,, T.., always cono^enial to the Pilgrims. It now
The Pilgrims , • , , , . . , ,
obtain sole rested with them to invite whom they might;
control. ^j^^ ^g ^ result many of their faith from Eng-
land were brought over. In 1643 there were three thou-
sand inhabitants in the eight distinct towns comprising
Plymouth colony ; there were also several independent
trading and fishing stations along the coast established
under the auspices of the Plymouth Company. The
colony was beyond the danger of abandonment.
The early history of Plymouth is a story full of pain-
ful details of suffering. It was a long time before the
people became inured to the rigorous climate ; the te-
dious winters were often seasons of much hardship and
privation. The life they led was toilsome, but they bore
up under it bravely.
The original colonists were kind and considerate to the
aborigines, and for many years were the firm friends and
allies of Massasoit, head chief of the Pokano-
with the kets, whose lands they had occupied. Whites
Indians. were not always as comfortable neighbors as
the savages. Thomas Weston, one of the London part-
ners, sent out (1622) an independent colony of seventy
men to Wessaugusset, about twenty-five miles north of
122 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI.
Plymouth. They were an idle, riotous set, and after
making serious trouble with the Indians, a year or two
later returned to Eno-land. In 1623, Robert
Relations c ^ a- A ' . A
with white Gorges, son of Ferdinando, was appointed
neighbors, governor-general of the country by the Council
for New England, and in person attempted to form a
colony upon land patented to him "on the northeast side
of Massachusetts Bay," but soon abandoned his enter-
prise and returned home. In 1625, Captain Wollaston
appeared with a number of indented white servants and
started a colony on the site of the Quincy of to-day.
But this form of slave labor not being suited to the
democratic conditions of New England life, Wollaston
took his servants to the more congenial climate of Vir-
ginia, and his plant was taken possession of by his part-
ner, Thomas Morton, who styled the settlement Merry-
mount. Morton was much disliked by the Puritans, who
were scandalized at his free-and-easy habits, regarded the
apparently innocent sports in which he encouraged his
people as " beastly practices," and charged him with the
really serious offence of selling rum and firearms to the
natives. The Plymouth militia dispersed the merrymak-
ers and sent Morton to England (1628).
Several Church of England men, representatives of
Robert Gorges, — who had a patent for a strip of terri-
tory ten miles coastwise and thirty miles inland, — had
come out in 1623, among them William Blackstone, set-
tling on Shawmut peninsula, now Boston, Thomas Wal-
ford at Charlestown, and Samuel Maverick at Chelsea.
Blackstone afterwards vacated his peninsula in favor of
the Puritans of Charlestown. Maverick, in his palisaded
fort, was a man of importance, and afterwards a royal
commissioner to the colonies. There was also a small
trading station at the mouth of the Piscataqua, and
another at Nantasket, with here and there an individual
:! 620-1 63S.] Government of Plymouth, 123
)lantation. With most of these the Plymouth people
lad business relations, but little else in common.
Plymouth was at first governed in primary assembly
A'ith a governor and assistants elected by popular vote.
Form of -^s the colony grew and new towns were
government, organized by compact bodies of people detach-
ing themselves from the parent settlement, it became
inconvenient for all of the people frequently to assemble
in Plymouth. The representative system was adopted
in 1638, each township sending two delegates to an ad-
ministrative body called the General Court, in which the
governor and assistants also sat. It was some years later
before the General Court was given law-making powers,
this privilege being retained by the whole body of free-
men. For sixteen years the laws of England were in
vogue, but in 1636 a code of simple regulations was
adopted, more especially suited to the community. The
assistants, with the aid of the jury, tried cases as well as
aided the governor in the conduct of public affairs.
Purely local matters were managed by primary assemblies
in the several towns, and petty cases were tried by town
magistrates.
Many features of American government and character
may be readily traced to the influence of Plymouth.
^, . It was the first permanent colony in New
Characteris- -r- , , . , , , n i i- , ,
tics of Ply- iLngland ; it had become well established
mouth. before another was planted, and therefore
served in some sense as a model for its successors. It
was a community of Independents acting without a
charter, working out their own career practically free
from royal supervision or veto, and with an elective gov-
ernor and council. The Plymouth people were closely
knit : their struggle for existence had been hard, and it
had taught them the value of solidarity ; they set the
example of a compact religious brotherhood ; they were
1 24 New E^tgland Colonies, [Ch. VI.
good traders, cultivated peace with the Indian tribes, and
advanced their towns only so fast as they needed room
for growth and could hold and cultivate the land. In
many respects Plymouth may be regarded as a modern
American State in embryo.
Three several times (1618, 1676-77, and 1690-91)
the colony endeavored, as a measure of self-defence, to
^ ., „ obtain a charter from the Crown: but failed in
Futile effort i- . r i i i •
to obtain a each application, — at first through the in-
c arter. fluencc of the prelates, and afterwards because
of the jealousy of its neighbors. Finally, in 1691, Ply-
mouth was incorporated with Massachusetts and lost its
identity.
5i. Massachusetts founded (1630).
The Plymouth Company did business in a rather hap-
hazard way. Land-grants were freely made to all man-
Boundary ner of speculators, many of them members of
disputes. ti^g corporation, with little or no regard to the
geography of New England. These grants were dealt
out to third parties, often with a lordly indifference to
previous patents. The result was that holdings fre-
quently overlapped each other, giving rise to boundary
quarrels which lasted through several generations of
claimants.
In 1623, an association of merchants in Dorchester,
England, sent out a party to form a colony near the
^ , mouth of the Kennebec, where they had fish-
Settlement . . , i i i •
at Cape mg interests. The master, however, landed his
""' men at Cape Ann, in Massachusetts Bay, the
site of the present Gloucester. Roger Conant, who,
withdrawing from Plymouth "out of dislike of their prin-
ciples of rigid separation," had made an independent
settlement at Cape Ann, was appointed local manager for
t623-'i628.] MassacJiusetts Founded, 125
the Dorchester merchants. In 1626 the merchants aban-
doned their colony as unprofitable, most of the settlers
returning to England ; and Conant led those remaining
to Salem, then called Naumkeag
John White, a conforming Puritan rector at Dorchester,
determined to make this settlement of Dorchester men a
White's success. To the settlers at Naumkeag he sent
scheme. urgent advicc to stay, while at home he set on
foot a movement which resulted in a definite scheme of
colonization. The arbitrary policy of Charles I. towards
dissenters had greatly alarmed the Puritans, and White's
plan of " raising a bulwark against the kingdom of Anti-
christ " in America had the support of many wealthy and
influential men.
In 1628, six persons, heading the movement, obtained
from the Plymouth Company a patent for a strip about
The Massa- ^'^^Y rnilcs wide along the coast, — from three
chusetts miles south of Charles River to three miles
gran . j^qj.|.)^ q£ ^^ Merrimack, and westward to the
Pacific Ocean, which in those days was thought to be
not much farther away than the river discovered by Hen-
drik Hudson in 1609. This patent conflicted with grants
already issued (1622 and 1623) to Sir Ferdinando Gor-
ges, his son Robert, and John Mason, of whom we shall
hear later on.
In September, 1628, John Endicott, gentleman, one of
the patentees, arrived at Salem with sixty persons, to
The first rcinforce the colony already there, and super-
charter sede Conant. The following spring, the pat-
I1628). , . . , ,,
entees being organized as a trading company,
the king granted them a charter styling the corporation
the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in
New England ; their only relationship to the Plymouth
Company was now that of purchasers of a tract of ♦^^he
latter's land
126 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI.
Unier this trading charter the whole body of freemen,
or members of the company, was to elect annually a
Form of govemor, a deputy-governor, and eighteen as-
government. sistants, who were to meet monthly to perform
such public duties as might be imposed upon them by the
quarterly meeting of the company, or " Quarter Court."
There was also to be an annual meeting, known as *' Gen-
eral Court," or " Court of Elections." Laws were to be
adopted by the general assembly of "freemen," — that is,
of stockholders, — not contrary to the established laws
of England. Endicott was continued as governor of the
colony, which was at once recruited by three hundred
and eighty men and women of the better grade of coloniz-
ing material.
Although the company was chartered as a trading cor-
poration, its principal object was not gain, but to found a
Religious rcligious Commonwealth. It was composed of
aspirations, j^^gj^ Qf j-^j-g ability and tact, as well as of con-
summate courage. Among them were members of parlia-
ment, diplomats, state officials, and some of the brightest
and most liberal-minded clergymen in England. The
church which they set up in Salem was not at first
avowedly Separatist, like that of Plymouth ; it was sim-
ply a purified English church, with a system of faith
and discipline such as they had long insisted upon in
the ranks of the mother-church. But under the circum-
stances this purified church was as independent in its
character* as the professedly Separatist congregations of
Plymouth ; and it was not long, as one step led to another,
and persecution hurried them on, before the Massachu-
setts Puritans were, like their brethren in England, full-
fiedged Independents.
Soon there was taken the most important step of all.
The Massachusetts company, in the desire for still greater
independence, removed its seat of government to the
1630.] The Puritan He^:i'a. 127
colony, thus boldly transforming itself, without legal sanc-
tion, from an English trading company into an American
„., colonial government. In April, 1630, eleven
Ihe com- => i ♦ j '
pany moves vesscls went out to Massachusetts Bay, with
^^^^ ' a large company of English reformers ; and
during the year there crossed over to America not less
than a thousand English men and women who had
p. found the arbitrary rule of Charles quite un-
ofthe bearable. John Winthrop, a wealthy Suffolk
gentleman forty-two years of age, and one of
the strongest and most lovable characters in American
history, was the first governor under the new arrange-
ment. Thomas Dudley, the deputy, was a stern and un-
compromising Puritan, cold and narrow-minded. Francis
Higginson, the first teacher, who had come over with
Endicott, but died in 1630, was a Cambridge alumnus
who had lost his church in Leicestershire because of
nonconformity. Skelton, the pastor, was also a Cam-
bridge man.
'J3^
52. Government of Massachusetts (1630-1634).
There were now too many people assembled at the
port of Salem for the supply of food, and sickness and
Salem hunger prevailed to such an alarming degree
divides. ^1^^^ many died in consequence. It became
necessary to divide, and independent congregations were
established, on the Salem model, at Charlestown, Cam-
bridge, Watertown, Roxbury, and later at Boston, which
soon became the capital of the colony (September, 1630).
Morton, who had returned to Merrymount, was again
driven from the country ; Sir Christopher Gardiner, a
disturbing element among the settlers, was obliged to
withdraw to the Piscataqua: the Puritans now held Mas-
sachusetts Bay, and brooked no rival claimants. In
128 Nezv Eiigtand Colonies, [Ch. VT
establishing this commonwealth in America, the Puritar
founders were determined to have things their own way.
It was early decided by the General Court (1631) thai
none but church members should be admitted as free-
^, . men. Four times a year the freemen were to
The tne- . '' , • , ,
ocracyestab- meet in quarter court, and with them the
hshed. governor, his deputy, and the assistants. But,
as in Plymouth, it was found after a time that the towns
and the freemen had so multiplied that this primary
assemblage became inconvenient. In 1630 the assis-
tants were given the power to elect the governor and
deputy governor, and also to make laws. Then it came
about that in certain cases the control of the colony
was in the hands of only five of the assistants, which
made the government almost oligarchical. The cap-
sheaf was applied when (1631) it was ordered that the
assistants were to hold office so long as the freemen did
not remove them.
That same year, however, came a vigorous protest
against this autocratic rule. The Watertown freemen
The Water- declined to pay a tax of ^60, levied by the
town protest, assistants for fortifications built at Cambridge.
It was argued that a people who submitted to taxation
without representation were in danger of " bringing them-
selves and posterity into bondage." The next General
Court accepted this plea as valid, and a House of Repre-
sentatives was inaugurated on tlie plan of the English
Commons, each town sending two deputies, and the gov-
ernor and assistants silting as members.
For a time the freemen resumed the right of election
of governor and depjty-governor, but soon handed this
The repre- duty over to the representatives. Voting by
sSmltab- ballot was introduced in 1634, and the free-
Hshed. men, who had become annoyed at threats from
Endand of interference with their charter, asserted their
»3i-i63S.] Government of Massachusetts. 129
dependence of the official class by rebuking the assist-
bts, turning Winthrop out of office, electing Dudley as
lovernor, making new rules for the election ot deputies,
roviding for an oath of allegiance to the colony, and
lacing their representative system on an enduring foun-
ation. Ten years later (1644), as the result of a quarrel
etween the assistants and the deputies, growing out ot
petty civil suit over a lost pig, the colonial parliament
ecame bicameral, the assistants forming one house, and
he deputies the other.
There liad been a healthy renewal of immigration i^
vlassachusetts in 1633 because of increased harshness
, . . towards Puritans in England, and a number of
Aristocratic °
)ropositions stroug men, — such as Sir Henry Vane and
ejecte . Hugh Peter, — destined to play no inconsider-
ible part in the history of America and England, were
imono; the new arrivals. There were other Puritans
higher in the social scale who would have liked to come,
-such as Lord Say and Sele, and Lord Brook; but their
proposition (1636) that an hereditary order of nobility
be established in the province, did not meet with popu-
lar favor ; a desire to be free from such distinctions was
one of the causes which had impelled thousands to flee
to America. A little later (1638) the freemen put down
another attempt at aristocratic rule, — a movement look-
ing to the establishment of a permanent council, whose
members were to hold for life or until removed for cause.
53. Internal Dissensions in Massachusetts (1634-1637).
In 1634 the colony, now firmly planted with free Eng-
lish institutions in full force, contained about four thou-
., ,. . , sand inhabitants, resident in sixteen towns.
V ondition of
the colony The old log-houses of the first settlers were
^'^^' gradually giving way to commodious frame
structures with gambrel roofs and generous gables. The
o
130 l^ew England Colonies, [Ch. VI
fields were being fenced, roads laid out between the
towns, and watercourses bridged ; and the farms were
beginning to take on an air of prosperity. Goats, cattle
and swine abounded. Adventurous trading skippers
often in home-made boats, had cautiously worked theii
way through Long Island Sound as far as the Dutch set
tlements at New York, and up the coast to the Piscataqua
doing a small business by barter. Salt fish, furs, anc
lumber were exported to England, the vessels bringing
back manufactured articles ; for as yet the industries
New England were few and crude.
The Massachusetts colonists were for the most pari
middle-class Englishmen, and education was genera
, among: them. Many were graduates of Cam-
Harvard . * -^ &
College bridge, and the clergymen had, as conscientious
^ ■ Reformers seeing no hope of improvement in
the English Church, abandoned comfortable livings at
home to take charge of rude Independent meeting-houses
in America. In 1636, an appropriation of ^400 — a very
large sum, considering the means of the province — was
made by the General Court to found a college at Cam-
bridge, that "the light of learning might not go out, nor
the study of God's Word perish." Two years later
(1638) the Rev. John Harvard, a graduate of Emmanuel
College, who had come out in 1637, dying, left his library
and a legacy of ^800 to the new institution of learning,
"towards the erecting of a college;" and the Court
decreed that it should bear his name. For two cen-
turies the college continued to receive grants from the
commonwealth.
While the colonists were thus bravely making progress
in lavinor the foundations of liberal institutions
Malcontents ^ o , i u •
make m America, there were troubles brewmg
trouble. y^^^ ^^ hom^ and abroad. The unconge-
nial spirits whom they had driven from Massachusetts
1634-1636.] Prosperity and hitcrfcrcnce, 131
3ay made complaints in England of the ill-treatment
hey had received, and carried to Archbishop Laud and
)ther members of the Privy Council reports that the
r*uritans were setting up in America a practically inde-
)endent state and church. As an immediate consequence,
migrants, early in 1634, were not permitted to go to
Mew England without taking the royal oath of allegiance
md promising to conform to the Book of Common
Prayer.
In April a royal commission of twelve persons was
appointed, ostensibly to take charge of all the American
Attack on colonies, secure conformity, and even to revoke
the charter, charters; but it was well understood that
'Massachusetts was especially aimed at. The Massachu-
setts people were speedily ordered to lay their charter
before the Privy Council. Their answer, however, was
withheld, pending prayerful consideration. Meanwhile
Dorchester, Charlestown, and Castle Island were forti-
fied; a military commission was set to work to collect
and store arms ; militiamen were drilled ; arrangements
were made on Beacon Hill, in Boston, for signalling the
inhabitants of the interior in case of an attack ; the
people were ordered on pain of death, in the event of
war, to obey the military authorities, and no longer to
swear allegiance to the Crown, but to the colony of
Massachusetts.
But the men of the colony were politic as well as
pugnacious, and despatched Winslow to England to
The charter Hiake peace with the authorities. While he
annulled. ^^g \^ London, in February, 1635, the Ply-
mouth Company surrendered its charter to the king,
with the condition that the latter should annul all exist-
ing titles in New England, and partition the country' in
severalty among the members of the Plymouth council.
In accordance with this arrangement, a writ of quo war*
132 New England Colonies. [Ch. VI.
ranto was issned against the Massachusetts charter, it
was declared null and void, and Gorges was authorized tc
be viceregal governor of New England.
Winslow was imprisoned in England for four months
for having broken the ecclesiastical law in celebrating
Judgment marriages in the Plymouth colony, but upon
suspended, j^jg release did good diplomatic work and neu-
tralized much of the opposition. Meanwhile, another and
stricter order was sent out to the Massachusetts Company
to surrender its charter. This again was met by silence
and renewed military preparations. English Puritans were
at this time attempting to leave for America in great num-
bers, on account of acts of royal tyranny. The difficulty
with the Scotch Church ensued, and by 1640 the Long
Parliament was in session. In the excitement occasioned
by the Puritan rising in the mother-land, the day of pun-
ishment for Massachusetts was postponed.
54. Religious Troubles in Massachusetts (1636-1638).
The opposition at home, occasioned by differences in
religious belief, was not, however, so easily thrust aside.
Roger Roger Williams, an able and learned, but big-
Wiihams. ^^-g^^ young Welshman, a graduate from Pem-
broke College, Cambridge, came out to Plymouth in 1631.
His tongue was too bold to suit the English ecclesiastical
authorities, and to gain peace he had been obliged to de-
part for the colonies. In 1633 he went to Salem, where
he became pastor of the church. Williams was fond of
abstruse metaphysical discussion, and he was an extremist
in thought, speech, and action; but while his arguments
were phrased in such manner as often to make it difficult
for us to understand him, the views he heM were in the
main what we style modern. He opposed the union
of church and state, such as obtained in Massachusetts.
331-1636.] Roger Williams. 133
i
j'here political power was exercised only by members of
le congregation ; he was opposed to enforced attendance
n church, and would have done away with all contributions
yc religious purposes which were not purely voluntary,
iuch doctrines were, however, held to be dangerous
the commonwealth ; and indeed expression of them
irould not at that time have been permitted in England
lor in many parts of Continental Europe. But this was
lot all. Williams in a pamphlet pronounced it as his
piemn judgment that the king was an intruder, and had no
right to grant American lands to the colonists ; that honest
patents could only be procured from the Indians by pur-
phase ; and that all existing titles were therefore invalid.
This was deemed downright treason, which he was com-
)clled by the magistrates to recant. At Salem, Endicott,
jA ho was one of his disciples, became so heated under his
|jastor's teachings that, in token of his hatred of the sym-
)()ls of Rome, he cut the cross of St. George from the
English ensign. The General Court, greatly alarmed lest
these proceedings should anger the king, reprimanded
Endicott ; and, because of his "divers new and danger-
ous opinions," ordered Williams (January, 1636) to return
to England. The latter escaped, and passed the winter in
missionary service among the Indians. In the spring,
privately aided by the lenient Winthrop, the trouble-
some agitator passed south, with five of his followers,
to Narragansett Bay, and ther-e established Providence
Plantation.
Mrs. Anne Hutchinson arrived in Boston from Eng-
land in the autumn of 1634. She was a woman of bril-
^jjj^g liant parts, but impetuous and indiscreet, and
Hutchinson by instinct an agitator. Her religious views
kx^Kmt- are described by Winthrop as containing *' two
mians. daugcrous errors, — first, that the person of
the Holy Ghost dwells in a justified person ; second,
134 New England Colonies, [Ch. VI.
that no sanctification can help to evidence to us our jus-
tification." This is cloudy to a modern layman. The
theory is styled Antinomian by its enemies, and was sub-
stantially as follows: Any person in a *' state of grace"
or "justification" is at the same time "sanctified;"
since he is both justified and sanctified, the person of
the Holy Ghost dwells in his heart, and his acts can-
not in the nature of things partake of sin: therefore he
need have no great concern about the outward aspect cf
his works. This doctrine was contrary to that enter-
tained by the Puritans, who believed that a person must
be first justified by faith, and then sanctified by works.
They thought the Antinomian dogma open to pernicious
interpretation, and not conducive to the welfare of society.
Its advocacy threw Boston into a great ferment.
Mrs. Hutchinson soon had a large following, among
whom were Wheelwright, John Cotton, and Thomas
Hooker, of the ministers ; while among laymen who were
well inclined towards her doctrine was the younger Henry
Vane, then governor of the colony, who was in later years
to become prominent as one of the leaders in the English
Commonwealth. In the conditions then existing in Mas-
sachusetts Mrs. Hutchinson's teachings were considered
dangerous to the State ; they opposed the authority of
the ecclesiastical rulers, and this tended to breed civil
dissension. One of her supporters, Greensmith, was
fined ^40 by the General Court (March, 1637) for publicly
declaring that all the preachers except Cotton, Wheel-
wright, and Thomas Hooker taught a covenant of works
instead of a covenant of grace, the difference between
which, the layman Winthrop said, " no man could tell,
except some few who knew the bottom of the matter."
At the same time Wheelwright was found guilty of sedi-
tion because in a sermon he had counselled his hearers
to fight for their liberties, but with weapons spiritual, not
634-1637-] Anne Hutchinson, 135
rarnal. When the Boston church supported their min-
ister, the Court responded by voting to hold its next
ineeting at Newtown (Cambridge), where it might delibe-
.ite amid quieter surroundings than at Boston.
When the Court of Election met at Newtown (May,
637), Vane and his friends were, in the course of a
umultuous session, dropped out of the government,
^V'inthrop was again chosen governor, and the uncom-
iromising heretic-hater Dudley deputy-governor. Vane
'eparted for England in disgust, never to return. For
I time it seemed as if peace had come under the politic
jWinthrop, and the Hutchinsonians gave evidences of a
desire to compromise. In a few months, however, the
[Court re-opened the whole controversy by legislating
against all new-comers who were tainted with heresy.
The old warfare broke out again. The charges of sedi-
tion against Wheelwright were renewed, he was banished,
and fled, with a few adherents, to the Piscataqua.
Mrs. Hutchinson was placed on trial (November, 1637)
and commanded to leave the colony, which she did in
^, „ ^ March followino^, and went to Rhode Island.
Mrs. Hutch- . r i /• ,, ,. >
iiison Seventy-six of her followers were disarmed,
^"'^ ^ ■ some were disfranchised, others fined, and still
others "desired and obtained license to remove them-
selves and their families out of the jurisdiction." Quiet
once more prevailed. Wheelwright recanted after a time,
and was permitted to resume his habitation in Boston ;
and many others of the disaffected were finally restored
to citizenship.
The little commonwealth had been shaken to its foun-
dations by a controversy which to-day '^ — when religion
The olic of ^"^ politics are sejparated, to the advantage of
repression both — would be considered of small moment
even in one of our rural villages ; but the State
and the Church were one in the colony of Massachusetts.
136 • New England Colonies, [Ch. v
and ecclesiastical contumacy was political contumacy a
well. Under such conditions there could safely be nei
ther liberty of opinion nor of speech ; the welfare of
government thus constituted lay in stern repression. Th
suppression and banishment of Roger Williams and Mr?
Hutchinson were eminently successful in restoring orde
and public security, in the train of which came increase
immigraiion and greater prosperity,
55. Indian Wars (1635-1637)
While these things were going on in Boston an(
Newtown, warfare of another sort was in progress to th
The Dutch south. In 1635 residents of Massachusett
at Hartford, made a settlement on the Connecticut river, 01
the site of Windsor, above the Dutch fort at Hartford
and later in the same year another party, under Johi
Winthrop the younger, built Saybrook, at the mouth
the stream. These Connecticut settlements formed ai
outpost in the heart of the Indian country, and troubli
was inevitable.
At last the attitude of the Pequods, the tribe occupying
the lower portion of the Connecticut valley, became un
The Pequod bearable ; they interfered with immigrant;
^^'■- going overland, and rendered trade by se;
dangerous. They endeavored to enlist the sympathy
the Narragansetts in their forays. Could these tribe:
have formed a coalition, it seems likely that the Nev
England colonists, then few and weak, must have beei
driven mto the sea. Roger Williams, bearing no malic(
towards his old enemies in Massachusetts, averted thii
calamity. As the result of great exertions on his part, th(
Narragansetts were induced to disregard the overture:
of their old enemies, the Pequods, and the Connecticu
Indians went alone uDon the war-path. They made lif<
535-^^37-] Pequod War. 1 37
burden to the settlers in the little towns of Saybrook,
fartford, Windsor, and Wethersfieid. An appeal for aid
ent up from the colonists in the Connecticut valley to
lassachusetts and Plymouth, and was promptly answered.
In the little intercolonial army of some three hundred
len, Captains John Mason of Windsor and John Under-
bill of Massachusetts were the leading figures.
he 00
trquods The Pequods were surprised in their chief
ushed. town (May 20, 1637), the walls of which were
urned by the whites, while volleys of musketry were
(jured into the crowd of savages, who huddled together
\ great fear. Says Underbill, " It is reported by them-
elves that there were about four hundred souls in this
ort, and not above five of them escaped out of our hands ; "
thers report that seven hundred Pequods fell on that
srrible day. Of the besiegers but two were killed,
hou;j;h a quarter of the force were wounded. From this
cene of slaughter the victorious colonists marched
hrough the rest of the enemy's territory, burning wig-
v^ams and granaries, taking some of the survivors prison-
rs, to be sold into slavery, and so thorouglily scattering
he others that the Pequod tribe never reorganized ; the
,'xpedition had thoroughly uprooted it.
56. Laws and Characteristics of Massachusetts
(1637-1643).
For more than ten years after the planting of Massa-
rhusetts the magistrates dispensed justice according to
their understanding of right and wrong ; there
were no statutes, neither had the English
:ommon law been officially recognized, except so far as it
was unrlerstood that Englishmen carried the law of their
and with them in emigrating to America. " In the year
1634," says Hutchinson, " the plantation was greatly
increased, settlements were extended more than thirty
138 New England Colonies, [Ch. V]
miles from the capital town> and it was thought high tim
to have known established laws, that the inhabitant
might no longer be subject to the varying uncertain judg
ments which otherwise would be made concerning thai
actions. The ministers and some of the principal laymei
were consulted with about a body of laws suited to thi
circumstances of the colony, civil and religious. Com
mittees of magistrates and elders were appointed " fron
year to year by the General Court, but it was not unti
1 641 that a body of statutes was finally adopted.
The influence of the clergy is well illustrated in th(
fact that the two codes finally submitted were the worl
The Body of of ministers, — John Cotton of Boston, anc
Liberties. Nathaniel Ward of Ipswich. The latter'j
plan, in which he received the aid of Winthrop anc
others of the elders, was adopted in 1641, under the title
of The Body of Liberties. In England, Ward had a'
one time been a barrister, and was well read in the
common law, on which his code was mainly based, al-
though it also contained many features of the law oj
Moses. Equal justice was vouchsafed to all, old 01
young, freeman or foreigner, master or servant, man 01
woman ; persons and property were to be inviolable
except by law ; brutes were to be humanely treated ; nc
one was to be tried twice for the same offence ; barbar-
ous or cruel punishments were forbidden ; public records
were to be open for inspection ; church regulations were
to be enforced by civil courts, and church officers and
members were amenable to civil law ; the Scriptures were
to overrule any custom or prescription ; the general
rules of judicial proceedings were defined, as were also
the privileges and duties of freemen, and the liberties
and prerogatives of the churches; public money was
to be spent only with the consent of the taxpayers.
*' There shall be no bond slaverie, villinage or Captivitie
i64i-] Body of Liberties, 139
amongst us unles it be lawfull Captives taken In just
warres, and such strangers as willingly selle themselves
or are sold to us ; " but all such were to be allowed " all
the liberties and Christian usages which the law of god
established in Israeli." Notwithstanding this enlightened
provision, persons continued to be born and to live and
die as slaves within the boundaries of the common-
wealth down to 1780. Servants fleeing from the cruelty
of their masters were to be protected, and there was to
be appeal from parental tyranny. " Everie marryed
woeman shall be free from bodilie correction or stripes
by her husband, unlesse it be in his owne defence upon
her assalt." The capital offences, selected from the
Scriptures, were twelve in number ; among them were :
" (2) If any man or woman be a witch (that is, hath or
consulteth with a familiar spirit), they shall be put to
death ;" and " (12) If any man shall conspire and at-
tempt any invasion, insurrection, or publique rebellion
against our commonwealth, ... or shall treacherously
and perfediouslie attempt the alteration and subversion
of our frame of politic or Government fundamentallie, he
shall be put to death." The essence of this Body of
Liberties was afterwards incorporated into the formal
laws of the colony. It was the foundation of the Mas-
sachusetts code.
Massachusetts was the first large colony in New Eng-
land. Its people were educated, and as a rule of a higher
Character- social grade than those of Plymouth. Under
Ma?sachu- ^ charter which contained many very liberal
setts. provisions, a highly organized government was
developed, which served as a model to the other colonies,
and had a wide influence in the building of a nation
founded on the principles of self-government. Plymouth
had, after sixteen years, separated into towns ; but when
organized town and church governments moved bodily
140 New England Colonies, [Ch. V]
from Massachusetts to found Connecticut, Massachusett
became the first mother of colonies. Massachusetts wa
bolder, miore aggressive, and more tenacious of her liber
ties than any other of the American colonies ; her peopi
took firm, sometimes obstinate, stand for their right
as Englishmen, and were often alone in their early con
tentions for principles upon which in after years th
Revolution was based. In their treatment of the Ir
dians they were inclined to be mors imperious than thei
neighbors.
57. Connecticut founded (1633-1639).
In 1633 Plymouth built a fur-trading house on the sit
of Windsor, on the Connecticut River. A party
_,, . Dutch traders from New York was airead
Plymouth
traders at planted at Kartford, in " a rude earthwor
with two guns," and strenuously objected t<
this intrusion ; but the Plymouth men found trade witl
the Indians profitable, and stood their ground.
The same year the overland route to the Connecticu
was explored by the Massachusetts trader, John Oldham
T^i. HT who was afterwards slain by the Pequods a
The Massa- ^ ^
chusetts Block Island. The favorable reports whicl
^^"^^ Oldham carried back induced a number o
people in Newtown (Cambridge), Dorchester, and Water
town, in the Massachusetts colony, to remove to thi
Connecticut and set up an independent State. '* Herein)
of ye fame of Conightecute river, they had a hankering
mind after it." Ostensibly they sought better pasturage
for their cattle, to prevent the Dutch from gaining ;
permanent hold on the country, and to plant an outpos
in the Pequod country ; but there also appear to havi
been some differences of opinion between these peopl
and the Massachusetts authorities, growing out of thi
taxation of Watertown in 1631 ; and no doubt thei
11633-1637.] Co7tnecticitt Founded. . 141
ministers and elders — among whom were such strong
nen as Thomas Hooker, Samuel Stone, and Roger Lud-
ow — were desirous of greater recognition than they
obtained at home. These differences were not so grave
jut that Massachusetts, after a spasm of opposition,
'ormally permitted the migration, gave to the outgoing
:olonists a commission, and lent to them a cannon and
5ome ammunition.
During the summer of 1635 a Dorchester party planted
I settlement at Windsor around the walls of the Plymouth
pivmouth post. Plymouth did not approve of this cav-
jveravved. ^jigj. treatment of her prior rights by the
^Massachusetts pioneers, but was obliged to submit with
wh;U grace she might, as she had in many controversies
with her domineering neighbor to the north.
That same autumn (1635) John Winthrop, Jr., ap-
peared at the mouth of the Connecticut with a commis-
Winthrop at ^'^^ ^^ govemor, issucd by Lord Brook, Lord
Saybrook. g^y and Sele, and their partners, to whom in
1 63 1 Lord Warwick, as president of the council for New
England, had granted all the country between the Nar-
ragansett River and the Pacific Ocean. Winthrop had
just thrown up a breastwork when a Dutch vessel ap-
peared on its way to Hartford with supplies for the
traders, and was ordered back ; thus were the New
Amsterdam people cut off from a profitable commercf
on the Connecticut, and from territorial expansion east
ward, although their Hartford colony lived for many
years.
The migration from Massachusetts to the Connecticut
continued vigorously during 1636, and by the spring of
icondition ^^37 ^^^ colony had a population of eight
jof the colony hundred souls, grouped in the three towns o,^
^' Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, — Win^
throp's establishment at Saybrook being but a military
142 New Ejigland Colonies, [Cii. v.
station, which had no connection with the Massachusett
settlements up the river until 1644. The Pequod wai
in 1637, stirred Connecticut to its centre. A force c
about one hundred and fifteen Massachusetts and Cor
necticut men, under the command of Capt. John Maso
of Windsor, was handled with much skill, and soon near!
annihilated the Pequod tribe. The Indians crushed, in
migration was renewed, and prosperity became geners
throughout the valley.
58. The Connecticut Government (1639-1643).
During the first year the Connecticut towns were sti]
claimed by the parent colony, and were controhed by ;
Government commission from Massachusetts. At the en(
established, of that time (1637) there was held a Genera
Court, in which each town was represented by two magis
trates, this body adopting such local regulations as wer
of immediate necessity.
In January, 1639, the three towns adopted a consti
tution in which Massachusetts acquiesced, thus practi
„, „ cally abandonins: her claims of sovereio-nt^
The Con- ^ . * , . . .
necticut over them. This Connecticut constitution \va
Constitution, undoubtedly, as Fiske says, "the first writtei
constitution known to history that created a government,'
— the "Mayflower" compact being rather an agreemen
to accept a constitution, while Magna Charta did no
create a government. Bryce characterizes the Connect!
cut document as "the oldest truly political constitution ii
America." It is noticeable for the fact that it made m
reference to the king or to any charter or patent ; it wa;
simply an agreement between colonists in neighboring
towns, independent of any but royal authority, as to thi
manner of their local and general self-government. Thi
governor and six magistrates (another name for assistants
were to be elected by a majority of the whole body of free
2639-] Connecticut Constitution, 143
men ; but later, with the spread of the colony, voting by
proxies was allowed. The governor alone need be a church
member, and he was not to serve for two years in succes-
sion; but this restriction on re-election was abolished in
favor of the younger Winthrop in 1660. Each town might
admit freemen by popular vote ; and it is noticeable that
despite the fact that the original settlers of Connecticut
came as organized congregations, with their ministers
and elders, it was ordained there should be no religious
restriction on suffrage, which was thus made almost
unrestricted ; the towns were to be represented in the
General Court by two deputies each ; the practical admin-
istration was in the hands of the governor and his assist-
ants, who were also members of the General Court. In
time the system became bicameral, the deputies forming
the lower, and the council the upper house ; the towns
were allowed all powers not expressly granted to the
commonwealth, the affairs of each being executed by a
board of " chief inhabitants," acting as magistrates. The
government of Connecticut was on the whole somewhat
more liberal and democratic than that of Massachusetts,
and was the model upon which many American States
were afterwards built.
More than to any other man, the credit for this epoch-
making constitution belongs to the Rev. Thomas Hooker,
Hooker's o^ Hartford, the leading spirit of the colony,
influence. jjg argued that *' the foundation of authority
is laid in the free consent of the people;" that "the
i choice of public magistrates belongs unto the people by
God's own allowance ; " and that " they who have power
to appoint officers and magistrates have the right also to
set the bounds and limitations of the power and place
unto which they call them." These are truisms to-
day, but in 1638 thev were the utterances of a political
prophet.
144 New England Colo?nes, [Ch. vi,
Under her liberal constitutional government, based upor
the voice of the people, Connecticut was from the first z
Character- pi'^ctically independent republic. The pubhc
istics of officers were plain, honest men, who acceptabl)
administered the affairs of the colony with
small cost. The colonists were shrewd in political man-
agement, frugal in their expenditures, hard-working, and
ingenious. Education flourished, a severe morality ob-
tained, and religious persecution was unknown. Con-
necticut was noted among the colonies for its prosperity,
independence, and enlightenment.
59. New Haven founded (1637-1644).
Theophilus Eaton was a London merchant "of fail
estate, and of great esteem for religion and wisdom in
Origin of the outward affairs." He was at one time an
*^io"y- ambassador to the Danish court, and had been
one of the original assistants of the Massachusetts Com-
pany, although not active in its affairs. John Davenport
had been an ordained minister in London ; he turnec
Puritan, and on his resignation in 1633 went to Holland
These two men formed a congregation, composed for the
most part of middle-class Londoners, who resolved to
migrate to America, there to set up a State founded on
scriptural models. The Plymouth and Massachusetts
men had started out with this same idea; but as the result
of circumstances, had made compromises which Eaton
and Davenport could not countenance.
In July, 1637, the two leaders arrived in Boston with
a small company of their disciples, among whom were
^, , several men of wealth and good social position,
Thsplanta- ^ . . ,. .
tion cove- but extremely narrow and bigoted m religious
°^"^' faith. They have been styled the Brahmins
of New England Puritanism. They did not deem it
practicable to settle in Massachusetts, and the following
637-1643-] New Haven Founded. 145
pring (March, 1638) sailed to Long Island Sound and
■stablished an independent settlement on the site of
\'e\v Haven, thirty miles west of the Connecticut river.
:^or a year their only bond of union was a "plantation
;ovenant " to obey the Scriptures in all things.
In October, 1639, there was adopted a constitution, in
,he making of which Davenport had the chief hand.
The Con- 1'he governor and four magistrates were to be
titution. elected by the freemen, who were, as in Mas-
sachusetts, church members; trial by jury was rejected,
because it lacked scriptural authority ; and it was for-
nally declared " that the Word of God shall be the only
ule attended unto in ordering the affairs of government."
Eaton was chosen governor, and held the office by annual
election until his death, twenty years later.
The neighborhood of New Haven was soon settled by
Dther immigrants, most of whom were also strict con-
Neighbor- structionists of the Scriptures, while a few
ng towns, others were as liberal in their ideas as the
people of the Connecticut valley. Guilford was estab-
lished (1639) seventeen miles to the north, and Milford
(1639) eleven miles westward ; Stamford (1640), well on
towards New York, followed, while Southold was boldly
planted (1640) on Long Island, opposite Guilford, in
territory claimed by the Dutch. As each town was as
well a church, these were for some years little inde-
pendent communities, founded on the New Haven
model. In 1643, however, they formed a union with New
Haven, and a system of representation was introduced.
Each town sent up deputies to the General Court, in
which also sat the governor, deputy-governor, and assist-
ants, elected by the whole body of freemen ; yet a major-
ity of either the deputies or the magistrates might veto
a measure. Local rnagistrates^ — seven to each town,
known as " pillars of the church " — tried petty cases,
146 New England Colonies. [Ch. VI
but important suits were passed upon by the assistants
The " seven pillars " were the autocrats of their several
towns, and colonial affairs were also practically in tht
hands of the select few who controlled the church.
At the meeting of the General Court in April, 1644, the
magistrates in the confederation were ordered to observe
Peters's " ^^^ judicial laws of God as they were de-
False Blue livered by Moses." This injunction afterwards
gave rise to an absurd report, circulated in 1781
by Rev. Samuel Peters, a Tory refugee, that the New
Haven statutes were of peculiar quaintness and severity.
For nearly one hundred years Peters's fable of the New
Haven Blue Laws was accepted as historic truth.
At first, New Haven failed to prosper ; but after a few
years, with the increase of trade, better times prevailed,
^^ and by the close of the century the town was
Character- "^ '
jstics of noted for the wealth of its inhabitants and their
ew aven. ^^^ houses. Education was greatly encour-
aged, and there were considerable shipping interests;
but the ecclesiastical system was peculiar, and suffrage
greatly restricted. There were, in consequence, frequent
outbursts of dissatisfaction among the people. The col-
ony thus had conspicuous elements of weakness, and was
finally absorbed by Connecticut.
60. Khode Island founded (1636-1654).
In 1636, with five of his disciples, Roger Williams,
Roger driven from Massachusetts as a reformer of a
Williams. dangcrous type, established the town of Prov-
idence, at the head of Narragansett Bay.
The following year (1637) a party of Anne Hutch-
Anne inson's followers — also expelled from Mas-
Hutchinson. sachusctts because of heretical opinions —
settled on the island of Aquedneck (afterwards Rhode
Island), eighteen miles to the south. Mrs. Hutchinson
/636-1638.] Rhode Island Founded, 147
joined them in 1638, and the town was eventually called
iPortsmouth.
Both communities at once attracted from Massachu-
jsetts people who had either been expelled from that
Newport colony or were not in entire harmony with it,
established, ^t^^ \^y ^-j^g closc of 1638 Providence contained
sixty persons, and Portsmouth nearly as many. The
next year fifty-nine of the Portsmouth people, headed by
the chief magistrate, Coddington, dissenting from some
of Mrs. Hutchinson's "new heresies," withdrew to the
southern end of the island and settled Newport ; but the
two towns reunited in 1640, under the name of Rhode
Island, with Coddington as governor.
Each of these colonies. Providence and Rhode Island,
was at first an independent body politic. It is interest-
„ ._ ing to note their original compacts. The
dence agree- Providence agreement (1636), signed by Roger
•"^^ ■ Williams and twelve of his sympathizers, was
as follows : " We whose names are hereunder, desirous
to inhabit in the Town of Providence, do promise to sub-
ject ourselves in active or passive obedience to all such
orders or agreements as shall be made for the public
good of the body, in an orderly way, by the major assent
of the present inhabitants, masters of families, incorpo-
rated together into a town fellowship, and such others
whom they shall admit unto them, only in civil things."
[Five freemen, called arbitrators, managed public affairs,
and for some years there appear to have been no fixed
rules for their guidance.
At Portsmouth the people united in the following dec-
laration : " We do here solemnly, in the presence of
Th Ports- J^^ovah, incorporate ourselves into a body
mouth decla- politic, and as He shall help will submit our
persons, lives, and estates unto our Lord Jesus
Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, and to all
148 New England Colonies, [Ch. vi
those perfect and most absolute laws of His, given u
in His holy words of truth, to be guided and judge(
thereby." The freemen conducted public affairs in towi
meeting, with a secretary, a clerk, and a chief magistrate
Newport was similarly organized ; but when Newpor
and Portsmouth reunited, a more complex governmen
was instituted. A General Court was then established
in which sat the governor, the deputy-governor, and fou
assistants, — one town choosing the governor and tw(
of the assistants, and the other the deputy-governor ant
?he remaining assistants ; the freemen composed the bod]
of the court, and settled even the most trivial cases. Ii
"641 it was declared that " it is in the power of th(
Dody of the freemen orderly assembled, or the part o
them, to make and constitute just laws by which the^
shall be regulated, and to depute from among themselvej
such ministers as shall see them faithfully executed bC'
tween man and man." At the same session an ordei
was adopted "that none be accounted a delinquent foi
doctrine, provided it be not directly repugnant to the
government or laws estabhshed."
By the other colonies Providence and Rhode Island
were deemed hot-beds of anarchy. Persons holding
An asylum ^^^ manner of Protestant theological notions
for sectaries, flocked thither in considerable numbers, and
it is true that for many years there were hot contentions
between them, often to the disturbance of public order.
Despite these years of bickerings. Providence and Rhode
Island prospered.
Through the exertions of Roger Williams, Providence,
Portsmouth, and Newport, with a new town called War-
Establish- wick, were united under one charter (1644),
n^"^-5^ as the colonv of Providence Plantations. This
Providence
Plantations, hberal document, issued by the Parliamentary
Committee on the Colonies, gave to the inhabitants along
^.641-1654] loleration in Rhode Island. 149
Narragansett Bay authority to rule themselves *' by such
form of civil government as by the voluntary consent of
all or the greatest part of them shall be found most
serviceable to their estate and condition." Larger power
could not have been wished for. By a curious provision,
adopted in 1647, a law had to be proposed at the General
Court; it was then sent round to the towns for the freemen
to pass upon it, thus giving the voters a voice in the con-
duct of affairs, without the necessity of attending court.
A majority of freemen in any one town could defeat the
measure. A code of laws resembling the common laws
of England, and with few references to biblical prece-
dents, passed safely through the ordeal in 1647; one
important section provided that " all men may walk as
their conscience persuades them."
The following year Coddington, as the head of a
fiction, obtained a separate charter for Newport and
The Cod- Portsmouth, — much to the disgust of many of
dington fac- the inhabitants of those as well as of the other
towns. A bitter feud lasted until 1654, when
Williams once more appeared as peacemaker and se-
cured the reunion of all the towns under the general
charter of 1644, with himself as president. The old
law code was restored.
Rhode Island was founded by a religious outcast, and
always remained as an asylum for those sectaries who
Character- could find uo home elsewhere. The purpose
Rhode^s- ^^"^ uoblc, and Williams persisted in his po-
land. licy, despite the fact that life was often made
uncomfortable for him by his ill-assorted fellow-colo-
nists, who were continually bickering with each other.
Throughout the seventeenth century Rhode Island was
a hot-bed of disorder. Fanaticism not only expressed
itself in religion, but in politics and society ; and no
scheme was so wild as to find no adherents in this con-
150 New England Colonies, [Ch. VL
fused medley. The condition of the colony served as a
warning to its neighbors, seeming to confirm the wisdom
of their theocratic methods.
61. Maine founded (1622-1658).
Sir Ferdinando Gorges, governor of Plymouth In Eng-
land, became interested in New England, we have seen,
Sir Ferdi- ^^ early as 1605. Ten years later he assisted
nando Gorges. John Smith in organizing an unsuccessful
voyage to the northern coast; in 1620 we find him a
member of the council of the Plymouth Company ; in
1622 he and John Mason (not the hero of the Pequod
war), both of them Churchmen and strong friends of the
king, obtained a grant of the country lying between the
Merrimack and Kennebec Rivers ; and it was Gorges
who sent out Maverick to settle on Noddle's Island,
and Blackstone to hold the Boston peninsula. Later
(1629), Mason obtained an individual grant from the
Plymouth Council of the territory between the Merri-
mack and the Piscataqua (New Hampshire), and Gorges
that from the Piscataqua to the Kennebec (Maine); these
grants were similar in character to the charter of the
Massachusetts Bay Company. When the Plymouth
Company threw up its charter in 1634, and New Eng-
land was parcelled out (1635) among the members of
the council. Gorges and Mason secured a confirmation
of their former personal grants. Mason died a few
months later, leaving the settlements in his tract to be
annexed to Massachusetts in 1641.
In April, 1639, Gorges obtained a provincial charter
from the king, conferring upon him the title of Lord
Becomes Proprietor of the Province or County of Maine,
priefofof ^^^ domain to extend, as before, from the
Maine. Kennebec to the Piscataqua, and backward
one hundred and twenty miles from the roast. He re-
1622-1658.] Maine Founded. 151
ceived almost absolute authority over the people of his
province, who were then but three hundred in number.
Saco, established by him about the year 1623, was the
principal settlement, and contained one half of the popu-
lation ; while a half-dozen smaller hamlets, chiefly of
his creation, were scattered along the neighboring shore,
inhabited by fishermen, hunters, and traders. The greater
part of these people were adherents of the king and the
Established Church. Notwithstanding Gorges's long-
sustained effort to attract men of wealth to his planta-
tions, the province was not as flourishing as its neighbors
to the south.
Gorges amused his old age by drafting a cumbrous
Constitution for his people. He was to make laws in
coniunction with the freemen; the laws of
His cum- •'
brouscon- England were to prevail in cases not covered
stitution. j^y ^j^g statutes ; the Church of England was
to be the State religion ; all Englishmen were to be al-
lowed fishing privileges; the proprietor was to establish
manorial courts ; and he was also empowered, of his own
motion, to levy taxes, raise troops, and declare war. In
examining the official machinery which Gorges sought to
erect in Maine, we are reminded of Locke's constitution
for the Carolinas ; the proprietor was to be represented
by a deputy-governor, under whom was to be a long line
of officers with high-sounding titles, these to form the
council ; with them were to meet the deputies selected
by the freeholders. The provinces were to be cut up
into bailiwicks or counties, hundreds, parishes, and tith-
ings ; justice in each bailiwick was to be administered by
a lieutenant and eight magistrates, the nominees of the
proprietor or his deputy, and under each was a staff of
minor functionaries. There were almost enough officers
provided for in Gorges's plan to give every one of his
subjects a public position.
152 New England Colonies. [Ch. vi
The proprietor himself never visited America; he was
represented by his son Thomas as deputy-governor.
The colony It was impossible for the latter, however, to
neglected. carry all of his father's plans into effect, and
gradually the province sank into disorder and neglect.
Its towns were finally absorbed by Massachusetts (1652-
1658).
The settlers brought out to people Maine were the
servants of individuals or companies having a tract of land
Character- ^^ ^^ Occupied and cultivated, fislieries to con-
istics of duct, and fur-trade to prosecute. They did
not come to found a church or build a state,
and such institutions as they developed were the imme-
diate outcome of their necessities. They had little
sympathy or communication with their neighbors of
Massachusetts and Plymouth.
62. New Hampshire founded (1620-1685).
We have seen that John Mason was given a grant in
1629 of the country between the Merrimack and the
^ . . , , Piscataqua. In his scheme for colonizing the
Origin of the ^ . , . ,
first settle- tract, Gorges was associated with him. But
ments. David Thomson and three Plymouth fur-
traders had already gained a footing at Rye in 1622,
under a grant from the Plymouth Council. Dover had
been founded before 1628 by the brothers Hilton, Puritan
fish-dealers in London; and some of Mrs. Hutchinson's
adherents, exiles from Massachusetts, founded Exeter
and Hampton. In 1630 Neal, as colonizing agent of
Mason and Gorges, settled at Portsmouth, on the Pis-
cataqua, with a large party of farmers and fishermen, all
of them Church of England men ; and it is probable that
this colony absorbed the neighboring settlement at Rye.
By the time the proprietors dissolved partnership in 1635
1620-1685.] New Hainpshire Founded, 153
(page 150), considerable property had been accumulated
by them here, as in the inventory of their possessions at
Portsmouth we find twenty-two cannons, two hundred
and fifty small-arms, forty-eight fishing-boats, forty horses,
fifty-four goats, nearly two hundred sheep, and over a hun-
dred cattle. This argues a large establishment. Upon the
death of Mason, later in the year, the Piscataqua colony
was left to its own guidance. All of the New Hampshire
towns were from the first independent communities,
governed much after the fashion of the other English
towns to the south of them.
The beginnings of New Hampshire were the results of
commercial enterprise in England and theological dissen-
sions in Massachusetts. The inhabitants of
Character- i i ,. i • i
isticsofNew the Several towns had little in common, and
Hampshire, j^^j^ different political and religious views.
Planted under various auspices, when they grew to im-
portance they were the subject of long struggles for
jurisdiction. It would be tiresome to trace the history of
these disputes ; suffice it to say that after many changes the
settlements on or near the Piscataqua were (1641-1643)
incorporated with Massachusetts, which ruled them with
marked discretion, and refrained from meddling with their
religious views. In 1679, as the result of disputes grow-
ing out of the revival of the Mason claim in England,
New Hampshire was turned into a royal province, but in
1685 was reunited to Massachusetts. As to the charac-
ter of the people of New Hampshire, what has been said
in regard to those of Maine may in a great measure also
be applied to them.
154 Developments of New England, [Ch.VII
CHAPTER VII.
NEW ENGLAND FROM 1643 TO 1700.
63. References.
Bibliographies. — Same as §47, above: Avery, II., III.;
Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 124-128.
Historical Maps. — Same as § 47, above.
General Accounts. — Doyle, Colonies, II. chs. viii., ix., III.
chs. i.-v.; Lodge, Colonies, 351-362, 375-380, 387-392, 398-400;
Osgood, Colonies; Avery, II. chs. xiii.-xviii.. III. chs. vii., viii., x.-
xii-. xix.-xxi.; G. Bancroft, I. 289-407, 574-613; Channing,
United States, I. chs. x\'., xviii., xix. ; Hildreth, I. chs. x., xii., xiv.;
Palfrey, New England, I. 269-408, III. 1-386; Fiske, Beginnings
of New England; Hallo weU, Quaker Invasion of Massachusetts;
R. Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, chs. ii., ill.; A. MacLear,
Early New England Towns; Winsor, Narrative and Critical, as
in § 47-
Special Histories. — Consult the numerous local histories,
some of them of much importance; Winsor's Boston, and Sheldon's
Deerfield are examples.
Contemporary Accounts. — Sewall, Diary; Mather, Mag-
nalia; Bishop, New England Judged; Hubbard, Trouble with
the Indians. — Reprints in publications of colonial and town
record commissions, historical and antiquarian societies, Prince
Society, Gorges Society, etc.; Andros, Tracts; American History
Leaflets, Nos. 7, 25, 29; Old South Leaflets; American History
told by Contemporaries, I. ch. xx., II.
64. New England Confederation formed (1637-1643).
In the preceding chapter has been sketched the origin
and planting of the New England colonies. Most ol
those colonies maintained a separate existence
politics and had a history of their own during the
excluded. ^^^^ q£ ^^^ seventeenth century. But the limits
of this work do not permit a sketch of the local anc
internal history of each colony. In this chapter wil
therefore be considered only those events of common
interest and having r, 3ignificance in the development 0:
^ the colonic 3.
11637-1642.] Confederation Formed. 155
First in time and first in its consequences is the
federation of the New England colonies, for which in
c necticut August, 1637, the men of Connecticut made
makes over- overtures to the Massachusetts General Court.
coloniaKede- Connecticut, as an outpost of English civiliza-
ration(i637)- tion in the heart of the Indian country and
" over against the Dutch," had especial need of support
from the older colonies to the east. The tribesmen were
uneasy and the menaces of the Dutch at New Amster-
dam were especially alarming. Twice had the doughty
Hollanders endeavored to drive English settlers from
the Connecticut valley and recover their lost fur-trade
there; both attempts had been failures, but it seemed
likely that in time the Dutch might summon sufficient
strength to make it more difficult to withstand them.
Again, the French, who had settled at Quebec in 1608,
were beginning to push the confines of New France
southward ; and there had been trouble with them at
various times for several years, the outgrowth of bound-
ary disputes and race hatred. The Connecticut and Hud
son rivers were highways quite famih'ar to the French.
Canadians and their Indian allies, and the Connecticut
colonists were apprehensive of partisan raids overland
from the north, which they could not hope to repel
single-handed.
' The proposition for union was renewed in 1639, ^'^^
again in September, 1642. At first Massachusetts was in-
Massachu- different ; but finally " the ill news we had out of
jsettsatiast England concerning: the breach between the
favorable , * =>
(1642). king and Parliament " appears to have caused
jher statesmen to look favorably on the project. Affairs
were at such a pass in the mother-country that it behooved
jEnglishmen in America to be prepared to act on the
'defensive in the event of the war-cloud drifting in their
direction. Should the king win, there was reason to
156 Development of New Eiigland. [Ch. VII.
believe that he would speedily turn his attention towards
the correction of New England, which had long been tc
dissenting Englishmen in the mother-land an object-
lesson in political independence and a ready refuge ic
time of danger.
In May, 1643, twelve articles were agreed upon al
Boston between the representatives of Massachusetts
Formation -^^7' Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven,
ot the New Wiuthrop tells us that the representatives
England . , . .
Confedera- " coming to cousultation cucountered some
*'°"' difficulties, but being all desirous of unior
and studious of peace, they readily yielded each to othei
in such things as tended to common utility." Com
promises were the foundation of this as well as of latei
American constitutions.
The four colonies were bound together by a forma!
written constitution, under the name of " The Unitec
TheConsti- Colonies of New England," in "a firm anc
tution. perpetual league of friendship and amity foi
offence and defence, mutual advice and succor, upon al
just occasions, both for preserving and propagating the
truth and libeities of the Gospel, and for their owr
mutual safety and welfare." Each colony was allowed tc
manage its internal affairs; but a body of eight federa!
commissioners, two from each colony, and all of then:
church members, were empowered to " determine al!
affairs of war or peace, leagues, aids, charges, and num-
bers of men for war, division of spoils and whatsoevei
was gotten by conquest, receiving of more confederate?
for plantations into combination with any of the confeder-
ates, and all things of like nature which were the propei
concomitants or consequents of such a confederation foi
amity, offence, and defence." Six commissioners formed
a working majority of the board; but in case of disagree-
ment, the question at issue was to be sent to the legisla-
1643-1660.] Massachusetts in Control, 157
tures of the several colonies for decision. War expenses
were to be levied against each colony in proportion to its
male population between the ages of sixteen and sixty.
The board was to meet at least once a year, and oftener
when necessary. The president of the commissioners,
chosen from their own number, was to be "invested with
no power or respect " except that of a presiding officer.
65. "Workings of the Confederation (1643-1660).
The league which it represented is " interesting as the
first American experiment in federation;" but it had one?
fertile source of weakness. There were in the
Inequality c ^ • i i
of represen- lOur colonies represented an aggregate popula-
tation. j.JQj^ q|- a^i^Qut twenty-four thousand, of which
Massachusetts contained fifteen thousand, the other three
having not more than three thousand each. In case of
war Massachusetts ag-reed to send one hundred men for
every forty-five furnished by each of her colleagues. In
two ways she bore the heaviest burden, — in the number
of men sent to war, and in the amount of taxes levied
therefor. As each colony was to have an equal vote in
the conduct of the league, Massachusetts was placed at a
disadvantage. She frequently endeavored to exercise
larger power than was allowed her under the articles
thus arousing the enmity of the smaller colonies, and
endangering the existence of the union.
Nevertheless, during the twenty years in which the conr
federation was the strongest poHtical power on the conti-
,, . nent of North America, Massachusetts main-
Massachu- _ '
setts in taincd control of its general policy. Maine
and the settlements along Narragansett Bay in
vain made application to join the confederation. It was
objected that public order was not established in Rhode
Island, and moreover the oath taken by the freemen
158 Development of New Engla^id, [Ch. VIL
there bespoke fealty to the English king. As for Maine,
its proprietor, Gorges, was enlisted on the side of the
monarch, and the political system in vogue in his province
differed from that in the other colonies.
The board was little more than a committee of public
safety ; it acted upon the colonial legislatures, and not on
Nature o£ the individual colonists, and had no power to
Comm*b-'^°^ enforce its decrees. One of its early interests
sioners. was the building up of Harvard College ; and
at its request there was taken up, throughout the four
colonies, a contribution of " corn for the poor scholars in
Cambridge."
In the articles of confederation there was no reference
whatever to the home government. The New Eng-
Local inde- ^^"^ers had taken charge of their own affairs,
pendence apparently without a thought of the supremacy
greater than r .^, ,. r ^ -ri --^ r
national oi Cither kmg or parliament. The spirit of
patriotism, jocal independence among these people was
greater than national patriotism. With Laud in prison
and the king an outcast, there could be no interference
from that quarter, and Parliament was too busy just then
to give much thought to the doings of the distant Amer-
ican colonists. In November (1643) Parliament insti-
tuted a commission for the government of the colonies,
with the Earl of Warwick at its head; but it was of small
avail so far as New England was concerned.
Massachusetts was ever in an attitude of jealousy
towards even a suspicion of interference from England.
Jealousy of I^ 1 644 the General Court voted that any
interference Q^g attempting to raise soldiers for the king
land. should be " accounted as an offender of an
high nature against this commonwealth, and to be pro-
ceeded with, either capitally or otherwise, according to
the quality and degree of his offence." The colony was,
however, no more for the Commons than for the king.
1 643-1653] Workings of the Confedei^ation. 159
When, in 165 1, Parliament desired that Massachusetts
surrender her charter granted by King Charles and re-
ceive a new one at its hands, for a year no notice was
taken of the command ; when at last England had a war
with Holland on her hands, the Massachusetts men
evasively replied that they were quite satisfied " to live
under the government of a governor and magistrates of
their own choosing and under laws of their own making."
The General Court was also bold enough to establish a
colonial mint (1652), and for thirty years coined " pine-
tree shillings," in the face of all objections. In 1653
Cromwell, always a firm friend to New England, was
declared Lord Protector ; yet Massachusetts did not
allow the event to be proclaimed within her borders,
and when he wished Massachusetts to help him in his
war against the Dutch by capturing New Amsterdam, the
colonial court somewhat haughtily " gave liberty to his
Highness's commissioners " to raise volunteers in her
territory. At the Restoration it was not until warning
came from friends in England, that Charles II. was pro-
claimed in New England.
66. Disturbances in Rhode Island (1641-1647).
Over on Narragansett Bay the public peace continued
to be disturbed by factious disputations. Because of
„, . the freedom there grenerously offered to all
on Narra- men, the Settlements of Rhode Island and
gansett Bay. providence were the harboring-place for dis-
senters of every class, who for the most part had been
ordered to leave the other colonies. Many of these per-
sons were of the T^aptist faith, or held other theological
views which would be considered sober enough in our
day; but among them were numerous rank fanatics, whom
no well-ordered society was calculated to please.
i6o Development of New Etigland, [Ch. Vll.
Some of Roger Williams's adherents had built Paw-
tuxet. To them came a band of fanatics, headed by
The case of Samuel Gorton, described by his orthodox
Gorton. neighbors as "a proud and pestilent seducer,"
of " insolent and riotous carriage," but who was by
no means so black as they painted him. The Paw-
tuxet settlers asked Massachusetts (1641) "of gentle
courtesy and for the preservation of humanity and
mankind," to "lend a neighbor-like helping hand " and
relieve them of the disturber. At the same time they
secured the annexation of their town to Massachusetts,
so that it might be within the jurisdiction of the latter.
Gorton and nine of his followers were taken as prisoners
to Boston (1643), where they were convicted of blas-
phemy, and after four or five months at hard labor were
released, with threats of death if they did not at once
depart from Massachusetts soil.
Gorton went to England (1646) and appealed to the
parliamentary commissioners, who declared that he
might " freely and quietly live and plant" upon his land
which he had purchased from the Indians at Shawomet
(Warwick), on the western shore of Narragansett Bay.
Edward Winslow of Plymouth was now sent over (1647) to
represent Massachusetts in the Gorton case ; and through
him the plea was entered that the commissioners, being
far distant from America, should not undertake the de-
cision of appeals from the colonies ; and moreover, that
the Massachusetts charter was an " absolute power of
government." The commissioners, in return, protested
that they " intended not to encourage any appeals from
your justice;" nevertheless, they "commanded" the
General Court to allow Gorton and his followers to dwell
in peace; but "if they shall be faulty, we leave them to
be proceeded with according to justice." The offender
Was allowed to return, but his presence was haughtily
1641-1647] Troubles in Rhode Island, 161
ignored; and when his settlement was threatened by
Indians, he cited in vain the parliamentary order as a
warrant for assistance.
67. Policy of the Confederation (1646-1660).
The sturdy and independent spirit of the colonists was
expressed in words as well as in deeds. While Winslow
,. . was thus representing: the colonists in Eng^land
Lxpressions i o o
of indepen- he made his famous reply to those who were
disposed to criticise the formation of the New
England confederacy as a presumptuous assertion of
independence : " If we in America should forbear to
unite for offence and defence against a common enemy
till we have leave from England, our throats might be all
cut before the messenger would be half seas through.'"
A similar impatience of authority from England was ex-
pressed by Governor John Winthrop. An opinion which
he delivered about this time betokened the proud and in-
dependent attitude of Massachusetts, and was prophetic
of the spirit of the Revolution. By a legal fiction, when
the king granted land in America it was held as being in
the manor of East Greenwich. It was said that the
American colonists were represented in that body by
the member returned from the borough containing this
manor, and were tlierefore subject to Parliament. Win-
throp held, however, that the supreme law in the colonies
was the common weal, and should parliamentary author-
ity endanger the welfare of the colonists, then they would
be justified in ignoring that authority.
Religious liberty was quite as dear to the New Eng-
land people as political liberty. In 1645, under Scottish
The Pres- influence, Presbyterianism was established by
byterians. p^Q^ Qf Parliament as the state religion of
England. Massachusetts was, however, stoutly Inde-
II
1 62 Developme7it of New England. [Ch. VII.
pendent, and furnished some of the chief channpions for
that faith during the great controversy which was then
raging between the two sects on both sides of the water.
A number of Massachusetts Presbyterians sought (1646)
to induce the home government to settle churches of
their faith in the colonies, and to secure the franchise to
all, regardless of religious affiliation ; but before they
reached England to state their case the Independents
were again in the ascendent, and the Puritan theocracy in
Massachusetts was undisturbed. Two years later (1648)
a synod of churches was held at Cambridge, at which
was formulated a church discipline familiarly styled "the
Cambridge platform." In it the Westminster Confes-
sion was approved, the powers of the clergy defined,
the civil power invoked to "coerce" churches which
should " walk incorrigibly or obstinately in any corrupt
way of their own," and the term " Congregational" estab-
lished, to distinguish New England orthodoxy from "those
corrupt sects and heresies which showed themselves
under the vast title of Independency." In 1649 this plat-
form was laid by the General Court before the several
congregations, and two years later it was formally
agreed to.
It was hardly to be supposed that a people so little
inclined to acknowledge the rights of England should
Encroach- treat with greater respect those of Holland;
ments upon ^^^ indeed they had the countenance of the
Dutch pos- J
sessions. homc government in encroachments upon the
Dutch colonies. In 1642 Boswell, who represented
England at the Hague, advised his fellow-countrymen in
New England to " put forward their plantations and
crowd on, crowding the Dutch out of those places where
they have occupied."
The New Englanders were not slow to adopt this
aggressive policy. Settlements were pushed out west*
1646-1652.] Presbyterianism and the Dutch, 163
ward from New Haven on the mainland, and southward
on Long Island. Peter Stuyvesant, then governor of
New Netherland, bitterly complained of these encroach-
ments, — for the Dutch then claimed everything between
the Connecticut and Delaware rivers, — and appealed to
the federal commissioners to put a stop to them ; but the
answer came that the Dutch were selling arms and
ammunition to the Indians, that their conduct was not
conducive to peace, that they harbored criminals from
the English colonies, and that the United Colonies pro-
posed to '* vindicate the English rights by all suitable
and just means." Stuyvesant, who was a hot-headed
man, would have liked to go to war with the New Eng-
enders, but was informed by the Dutch West India
Company that war " cannot in any event be to our ad-
vantage : the New England people are too powerful for
us." The matter was finally (1651) left to arbitrators,
who settled a provisional boundary line which "on the
mainland was not to come within ten miles of the Hud-
son River," and which gave to Connecticut the greater
part of Long Island.
War broke out between England and Holland in 1652,
and the Connecticut people were anxious to attack New
Weakness of Netherland, which had not ceased its depre-
theconfed- dations on the outlying: settlements. All of
eration in i r j i . .
the Dutch the lederal commissioners except those from
^*''* Massachusetts voted to go to war ; there was
a stormy session of the federal court, in which Massa-
chusetts endeavored in vain to override the other col-
onies. Connecticut and New Haven applied to Cromwell
for assistance. He sent over a fleet to Boston, with
injunctions to Massachusetts to cease her opposition.
The General Court stoutly refused to raise troops for the
enterprise, although it gave to the agents of Cromwell
the privilege of enlisting five hundred volunteers in the
1 64 Development of New England. [Ch. Vll
colony if they could. But while arrangements were in
progress for an attack by eight hundred men on New
Amsterdam, news came that England and Holland had
proclaimed peace (April 5, 1654), and warlike prepara-
tions in America ceased.
The weakness of the New England confederation was
evident in domestic affairs as well as in foreign wars.
Massachu- Massachusetts was frequently in colHsion with
setts in col- the Commissioners. An instance occurred as
hsion with , , , . 1,1,
thecommis- early as 1642-1643, when trouble broke out
sioners. ^j^j^ ^^^ Narragansetts, who were friends and
allies of the disturber Gorton at Shawomet. Massachu-
setts refused to sanction hostilities ; nevertheless the
commissioners despatched a federal force against the
Indians ; but the expedition proved futile, owing to lack
of support from the chief colony.
Saybrook, at the mouth of the Connecticut River, was
purchased by the Connecticut federation in 1644. In
P . order to compensate herself, Connecticut levied
between toll on every vessel passing up the river.
andMassa- Massachusetts owned the valley town of
chusetts. Springfield, and entered complaint before the
commissioners (1647) that Connecticut had no right to
tax Massachusetts vessels trading with a Massachusetts
town. Two years later (1649) ^^^ commissioners de-
cided in favor of Connecticut ; whereupon Massachusetts
levied both export and import duties at Boston designed
to hamper the trade of her -sister colonies ; at the same
time she demanded that because of her greater size she
be allowed three commissioners, and insisted that the
power of the federal body be reduced. This action
created great hostility, and threatened at one time to
break up the union. By 1654 the contention had been
allowed to drop on both sides, and duties on intercolo-
nial trade ceased.
1656.] The Quakers, 165
68. Repression of the Quakers (1656-1660).
During the remainder of the Commonwealth period
the most serious question which arose in New England
_ was what to do with the Quakers. In the the-
Ireatment '^
of the ocracy of the seventeenth century the atti-
QuaKers. ^^^^ ^£ ^j^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ j^^^^^ theologically and
politically well calculated to arouse hostility. They
would strip all formalities from religion, they would rec-
ognize no priestly class, they would not take up arms in
the common defence, would pay no tithes and take no
oath of allegiance, they doubted the efficacy of baptism,
had no veneration for the Sabbath, and had a large re-
spect for the right of individual judgment in spiritual
matters. They were aggressive and stubborn, and,
goaded on by persecution, broke out into fantastic dis-
plays of opposition to the State religion. In England
four thousand of them were in jail at one time. When
Anne Austin and Mary Fisher arrived in Boston (1656)
from England, by way of the Barbados, as a van-
guard of the Quaker missionary army, the colonial au-
thorities were aghast with horror. The adventurous
women were shipped back to the Barbados, and a law
was enacted against " all Quakers, Ranters, and other
notorious heretics," providing for their flogging and
imprisonment at hard labor. Despite this harsh treat-
ment, the Quakers continued to arrive. Roger Williams
said, when applied to by Massachusetts to harry them
out of Rhode Island: where they are "most of all suf-
fered to declare themselves freely, and only opposed by
arguments in discourse, there they least of all desire to
come. . . . They are likely to gain more followers by
the conceit of their patient sufferings than by consent to
their pernicious sayings." Nevertheless, Rhode Island
was and is the stronghold of the Friends in New
England.
1 66 Development of New England. [Ch. Vll.
In 1657 it was enacted that Quakers who had once
been sent away and returned, should have their ears
lopped off, and for the third offence should have their
tongues pierced with red-hot irons. Banishment on pain
of death was recommended by the federal commissioners
in 1658 ; and in 1659-1660 four Quakers los^ their lives by
hanging on Boston Common. Public sentiment revolted
at these spectacles, and in 1660 the Massachusetts death-
law was repealed, and Quakers were thereafter subjected
to nothing worse than being flogged in the several towns;
even this gradually ceased, with the growth of a more
humane spirit. In Connecticut the sect suffered but
little persecution, and in Rhode Island none ; while
Plymouth and New Haven were nearly as harsh in their
treatment as Massachusetts.
The restoration of royalty in England (1660) began a
new epoch in the history of the colonies. Their control
was placed in the hands of a council for the
land in the plantations, and twelve privy councillors were
counciWor^ designated to take New England in charge.
the planta- The Quakers had seized the opportunity of
tions.
gaining an early hearing from the new king,
who was charitably disposed towards them. In its ad-
dress to Charles, the Massachusetts court expatiated on
the factious spirit of the Quakers; but the king replied
that while he meant well by the colonies, he desired that
hereafter the Quakers be sent to England for trial, — a
desire which was as a matter of course disregarded.
-&*
69. Koyal Commission (1660-1664).
It is not surprising that the king was disposed to look
with suspicion upon the men of New England. He had
been told that the confederacy was " a war combination
made by the four colonies when they had a design to
throw off their dependence on England, and for that pur*
1657-1664.] Royal Commissiott, 167
pose." The New Englanders, too, had been somewhat
slow to proclaim his ascendancy; while two of the judges
The king ^^^ ^^^ sentenced his father to death, Goffe
suspects and Whalley, were screened from royal justice
New Eng-
land's by the people of New Haven, and afterwards
loyalty. y^^ those of Hadley, a Massachusetts town in
the Connecticut valley. Massachusetts had been bold
enough when the home government was so distracted by
other affairs as to render attention to the colonies imprac-
ticable; now that Charles appeared to be turning his atten-
tion to America a more politic course was pursued. Simon
Bradstreet, a leading layman, and John Norton, promi-
nent among the ministers, were sent to England to make
peace with the Crown, and soon returned (1662) with a
gracious answer, which, however, was coupled with an
order to the court to grant all "freeholders of compe-
tent estate " the right of suffrage and office-holding,
"without reference to their opinion or profession," to
allow the Church of England to hold services, to ad-
minister justice in the name of the king, and to compel
all inhabitants to swear allegiance to him. The court
decreed that legal papers should thereafter run in the
king's name; but all other matters in the royal mandate
were referred to a committee which failed to report upon
them.
Affairs now went on peacefully enough in Massachu-
setts until 1664. In that year the king sent over four
Arrival of ^oyal Commissioners to look after the colonies,
royal com- among them being Samuel Maverick, one of
missioners. ,, t-. i • ■ • , i i i
the Presbyterian petitioners who had made
trouble for the New Englanders a few years before.
These commissioners were required " to dispose the
people to an entire submission and obedience to the
king's government;" also to feel the public pulse in
Massachusetts, in order to see whether the Crown might
1 68 Development of New England. [Ch. vir.
•
not judiciously assume to appoint a governor for that
colony. They arrived at Boston in July with two ships-
of-war and four hundred troops. Obtaining help from
Connecticut, the expedition proceeded to New Amster-
dam and easily conquered that port from the Dutch.
During the months the commissioners were at Boston
they were engaged in a prolonged quarrel with the
Massachusetts men, who claimed that their charter
allowed them to govern themselves after their own
fashion, without interference from, a royal commission.
The court was persistently importuned to give a plain
answer to the king's demands sent out in 1662 ; but
nothing satisfactory could be obtained, and the commis-
sioners were obligfed to return without having accom-
plished their mission. The Dutch war against England
was now going on, and political affairs at home were
unquiet. A policy of delay had been profitable for
Massachusetts.
In the other colonies of Nev/ England better treatment
had been accorded the commissioners. Connecticut had
Treatment of sent over her governor, the younger Winthrop,
Connecticut, ^q represent her at court. He was well re-
ceived there, being a man of scholarly tastes and pleas-
ing manner; the king was the more disposed to favor him
because by helping Connecticut a rival to Massachusetts
would be built up. A liberal charter was granted to his
colony; and New Haven — disliked by Charles for having
harbored the regicides — was now, despite her protest,
and of annexed to her sister colony, Rhode Island,
Rhode too, was benefited by the royal favor, and re-
ceived a charter making it a separate colony.
Doubtless the fact that the people of Narragansett Bay
had been shut out from the New England confederacy
had inclined the king to look kindly upon them. For
these reasons Connecticut and Rhode Island had re-
ion
V
; 662- 1 684.] Prosperity. 1 69
:eived the commissioners with consideration, while weak
Plymouth was also praised for her ready obedience.
The suppression of New Haven by the king, and the
:)ractical victory of the Quakers over the theocratic policy
jecadence of Massachusetts, were staggering blows to
unfedera- ^^ Confederation. The federal commissioners
held triennial meetings thereafter until 1684,
hen the Massachusetts charter was revoked; but its
)roceedings, except during King Philip's war, were of
ittle importance.
The period of the decadence of the confederation, how-
ever, was in the main one of prosperity for New Eng-
V prosper- land. Emigration to America had almost wholly
IS period, ccascd after 1640, with the rise of the Puritans
a England ; but the restoration of the Stuarts and the
passage of the Act of Uniformity, with its accompanying
)ersecutions, caused a renewal of the departure of Dis-
ienters, and the movement included many, both laymen
md clericals, of eminent ability. New industries were
ntroduced, commerce grew, the area of settlement ex-
ended, and wealth increased.
But the accretion of wealth and the passage of time
• rought changes in the attitude towards England that
ange of threatened in a measure to counteract the quiet
r-k'^Eng- struggle for independence which had been
' '^ going on for nearly half a century. A second
■eneration of Americans had come upon the stage, with
)Ut a traditional knowledge of the tyrannies practised
ipon their fathers in the old country. Larger wealth
.ecured greater leisure, which resulted in a cultivation of
he graceful arts, with a softening of the austere manners
md thinkinir of the first emig;rants. There was now
nanifest a desire on the part of many members of the
ipper class to bring about closer relations with the Old
A'orld, with its fine manners, its aristocracy, and its
170 Development of New England. [Ch. VI]
historic associations. Opposition to England began t
give place to imitation of England ; colonial life hai
entered the provincial stage. Two parties had by thi
time sprung up, although as yet without organization, -
one desiring to conciliate England, the other standing fo
independence in everything except in name. Thus fa
none had ventured to think of the possibility of dissolviuj
all poHtical connection with the mother land.
70. Indian Wars (1660-1678).
The Indian policy of the New Englanders was mori
humane than that adopted in any of the other colonic:
Indian cxccpt Pennsylvania. Compensation had beei
Sew^Ene- gi"anted to the savages for lands taken, firn
land friendships had been formed between som(
of the chiefs and the whites, and the missionary enter
prises among the red-men were conducted on a large
scale and with much zeal. Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod
and the country round about Boston were the centres
proselytism ; the *' praying Indians" were gathered int(
village congregations with native teachers, most notable
being those under the supervision of John Eliot, " the
apostle." Of these converted Indians there were in 167:5
about four thousand ; several hundred of them were
taught a written language invented by Eliot, who success-
fully undertook the monumental labor of translating the
Bible into it for their benefit.
Massasoit, head-chief of the Pokanokets, had made a
treaty of alliance with the Plymouth colonists soon aftei
Troubles their arrival, and kept it strictly until his death
with Philip. (1660). His two SOUS werc christened at Ply-
mouth as Alexander and Philip. Alexander died (1662)
at Plymouth, where he had gone to answer to a charge
of plotting with the Narragansetts against the whites.
1660-167 si King Philip's War, 171
Philip, now chief sachem, wrongfully thinking his brother
to have been poisoned, was thereafter a bitter enemy of
the dominant race. For twelve years there were nu-
merous complaints against him, and he v^^as frequently
summoned to Plymouth to make answer. He was smooth-
spoken and fair of promise, but came to be regarded as
an unsatisfactory person with whom to deal. In 1674 it
became evident that Philip was planning a general Indian
uprising, to drive the English out of the land.
His territory was now chiefly confined to Mount Hope,
— a peninsula running into Narragansett Bay ; and here
„. he " began to keep his men in arms about
Philip's him, and to gather strangers unto him, and to
march about in arms towards the upper end
of the neck on which he lived, and near to the English
houses." On the twentieth of June a party of his war-
iors attacked the little town of Swanzey, killing many
Hsetilers and perpetrating fiendish outrages. War-parties
ifrom Mount Hope now quickly spread over the country,
joined by the Nipmucks and other tribes. Throughout
the white settlements panic prevailed, and several towns
in Massachusetts, as far west as the Connecticut valley,
were scenes of heart-rending tragedies.
The Narragansetts had played fast and loose in this
jstruggle, their disaffection growing with the success of
Ithe savage arms. It was evident that unless crushed,
they would openly espouse Philip's cause in the coming
spring, and the danger be doubled. A thousand volun-
teers, enlisted by the federal commissioners, on Decem-
ber 19 attacked their palisaded fortress in what is now
South Kingston. Two thousand warriors, with many
jwomen and children, were gathered within the walls.
lAbout one thousand Indians were slain in the contest,
{which was one of the most desperate of its kind ever
jfought in America.
172 Development of New England, [Ch. vi
The following spring and summer Pliilip again mad
bloody forays on the settlements ; but he was persistent]
attacked, his followers were scattered, and he was at la*
driven, with a handful of followers, into a swamp on Mour
Hope. Here (Aug. 12, 1676) he was shot to death by
friendly Indian, and "fell upon his face in the mud an
water, with his gun under him; . . . upon which the who!
army gave three loud huzzas." His hands and hea
were cut off and taken to Boston and Plymouth respec
lively, in token to the people at home that King Philip'
war was at an end, and that thereafter white men were i
be supreme in New England.
During the two years' deadly struggle the colonist
had been surfeited with horrors, of which the statistics c
Th ff ^^^^ ^^^ convey but slight idea. Of the eiglit
of the or ninety towns in Plymouth and Massachu
strugge. setts, nearly two-thirds had been harried b
the savages, — ten or twelve wholly, and the others pa!
tially destroyed ; while nearly six hundred fighting men -
about ten per cent of the whole — had either lost thei
lives or had been taken prisoners, never to return. I
was many years before the heavy war-debts of the co
onies could be paid ; in Plymouth the debt exceede
in amount the value of all the personal property.
The year before Philip fell (1675), trouble broke on
with the Indians to the north, on the Piscataqua. I
the summer of 1678 the English of Maine felt themselve
compelled to purchase peace, thus establishing a pre
cedent which fortunately has not often been followed i
America. The home government was much annoyed
the obstinacy of the colonists in not calling on it for ai
in these two Indian wars. Jealous of English interfei
ence, they preferred to fight their battles for themselve;
and thus to give no excuse to the king for maintainin
royal troops in New England.
i649-i6y6.] Massachusetts and the King. 173
71. Territorial Disputes (1649-1685).
Massachusetts early gave evidence of a desire to ex-
tend her territory. Disputes in regard to lands fre-
quently «{ave rise to quarrels with the Indians.
Vlassachu- ^ / ■, . c -ii, t
;etts extends In 1649 the Strip oi mainland along Long
ler territory, jgj^j^^^ Sound, between the western boundary
Df Rhode Island and Mystic River, was granted to her
)y the federal commissioners. From 1652 to 1658 she
ibsorbed the settlements in Maine, now neglected by the
leirs of Gorges, just as in 1642-1643 she had annexed
.he New Hampshire towns. The council for foreign
plantations had been dissolved in 1675, '^"^ ^^^ manage-
nent of colonial affairs was resumed by a standing com-
nittee of the Privy Council styled " the Lords of the
Tommittee of Trade and Plantations." At this time the
jorges and Mason heirs renewed their respective claims
o Maine and New Hampshire, which they said had been
vrongfully swallowed up by Massachusetts.
Other complaints against the Bay Colony, that had
leen allowed to slumber for some time, were now revived,
j:he king's and the Lords of Trade, as they were familiarly
gahfsTMas- called, were soon sitting in council upon the
achusetts. decds of the obstinate colony. The king's
;harges of early years were ngain advanced; that the
\cts of Navigation and Trade (page 104) were not being
)bserved ; that ships from various European countries
jraded with Boston direct, without paying duty to Eng-
ind on their cargoes ; that money was being coined at
. colonial mint ; and that Church of England members
vcre denied the right of suffrage. Edward Randolph,
. relative of the Masons, was sent over (1676) to be col-
sctor at the port of Bo.ston, now a town of five thousand
nhabitants, and to investigate the colonies. His manner
vas insulting, and he was rudely treated by the people,
1/4 Develop7ne7it of New England. [Ch. vi
who were greatly embittered against England in cons(
quence of his malicious reports to the home governmeni
In 1679 ^^ l^i"& erected New Hampshire into
separate royal province. Edward Cranfield, a tyrannic;
New Hamp "i^"» became the governor (1682), but h'
shirearoval conduct drovc the people into insurrectior
province. ^^ ^^^^ obliged to fly to the West Indie
(1685), and in the same year New Hampshire was reunite
to Massachusetts.
In 1665 the royal commissioners detached Maine froi
Massachusetts ; but three years later (1668) that con
Massachu- monwealth calmly took it back again. Gorge
chases"'^' ^^^ inclined to make trouble, and agents c
Maine. Massachusetts quietly purchased his claii
(1677) for ;^i,25o. The skilful manoeuvre excited tli
displeasure of the king, who had intended himself t
buy out the claims of Gorges, in order to erect Main
into a proprietary province for his reputed son, the Duk
of Monmouth. The company of Massachusetts Bay no
governed Maine under the Gorges charter as lord pre
prietor, and did not make it a part of the Massachuset
colony.
72. Be vocation of the Charters (1670-1687).
It was two years later (1679) before Charles w£
ready again to make a movement upon Massachusett
The Massa- He demanded that Maine should be delivers
charfer\n- "P *^ ^^ Crown, on repayment of the pu
nulled. chase money, and also that all other cor
plaints should at once be satisfied. The General Cou
gave an evasive answer, and adopted its usual methc
of sending over agents to ward off hostilities by a polio
of delay. But in 1684 the blow came : a writ of qi
warranto was issued against the simple trading chart
under which Massachusetts had so long been permitt(
6;9-i688.] The Rule of Andros, 175
,0 grow and prosper ; the charter was held to be an-
lulled, and the colony now became a royal possession.
With the death of Charles II. (1685), James II. came
the English throne. As a Roman Catholic, and im-
Vrrival of bued with a taste for absolute power, the
\ndros. colonies had little favor to expect from him.
'n 1686, as a step towards abolishing the American
barters, James sent over Sir Edmund Andros as gov-
jrnor of Massachusetts, Plymouth, New Hampshire, and
Maine; he brought authority to ignore all local political
nachinery and to govern the country through a council,
he president of which was Joseph Dudley, the unpop-
ilar Tory son of the stern old Puritan who had been
'^V^'inthrop's lieutenant. The charters of Rhode Island
md Connecticut were demanded for annulment (1686).
The former colony was, as usual, obedient, and yielded up
ler charter ; Connecticut failed to respond to the de-
nand of Andros, and he went to Hartford (October,
1687) and ordered the charter to "be produced. A famil-
iar myth alleges that the document was concealed from
lim in the hollow trunk of a large tree, known ever after
IS the "charter oak;" nevertheless Andros arbitrarily
declared the colony annexed to the other New England
:olonies which he governed.
The following year (1688) Andros was also made gov-
ernor of New York and the Jerseys, his jurisdiction now
His despotic extending from Delaware Bay to the confines
ule. Qf New France, with his seat of government at
Boston. The government of Andros was despotic, and
fell heavily on a people who had up to this time been ac-
ustomed to their own way. Episcopal services were held
in the principal towns, and Congregational churches were
frequently seized upon for the purpose ; the writ of habeas
corpus was suspended; a censorship of the press was
restored, with Dudley as censor; excessive registry fees
were charged ; arbitrary taxes were levied ; land grants
I J^ Development of New England, ' [Ch. Vli
made under former administrations were annulled ; pri
vate property was unsafe from governmental interference
common lands were enclosed and divided among th
friends of Andros ; tlie General Court was abolished, ani
most popular rights were ignored. Dudley tersely de
scribed the situation (1687) on the trial of the Rev. Johi
Wise, of Ipswich, for heading a movement in that towi
to resent taxation without representation : " Mr. Wise, yoi
have no more privileges left you than not to be sold fo
slaves."
73. Kestoration of the Charters (1689-1692).
In April, 16S9, news came of tlie Revolution in Eng
land, the flight of the arrogant James, and the accessioi
Andros o^ the Prince of Orange. The example of re
deposed. ^qJ^ ^y^g already foreshadowed in Boston, wher
Andros and Dudley were deposed. Elsewhere in th(
Northern colonies the representatives of the tyrant ex
tortioners were driven out. The Protestant sovereigns
William and Mary, were proclaimed amid great populai
rejoicings.
The old charters were restored for the time. In Sep-
tember, 1691, Plymouth and the newly acquired territor}
New Eng- of Acadia were united to Massachusetts undei
Winianfand ^ ^^^^ charter, which had been secured fro it
Mary. the king chiefly through the agency of the
Rev. Increase Mather, of Boston, now influential in colo
nial politics, as were also other members of the Mathei
family. In May following (1692) this new charter foi
Massachusetts was received at Boston. It was not a<
liberal as had been hoped. The people were allowec
their representative assembly as before, but the governo;
was to be appointed by the Crown ; the religious quali
fication for suffrage was abolished, a small property
qualification (an estate of ^^40 value, or a freehold wortl
£2 a year) being substituted ; laws passed by the Genera
689-1700-] Re-Constittition of New E7tgland. 177
rourt were subject to veto by the king, — a provision
raught with danger to the colonists. Thus Massachu-
tts became a Crown charter colony, — a position not
;n
comfortable so long as the executive and the legisla-
ure could agree. The first royal governor, Sir William
■hipps ( 1 692-1 695), proved to be popular, generous, and
•ell-meaning. He had a romantic history, but was of
lender capacity, and owed his appointment to the favor
;f his pastor, Increase Mather.
tj Connecticut and Rhode Island received their charters
)ack ; New Hampshire was governed by its new pro-
jrietor, Samuel Allen, but without a charter; Maine
I Continued under Massachusetts, — the Bay Colony now
extending from Rhode Island to New Brunswick, except
or the short intervening strip of New Hampshire coast.
It was fortunate for American liberty that the scheme
^f a consolidation of the New England colonies was put
, forward by the Stuarts too late for accomplishment. It
was also fortunate that Massachusetts was flanked by and
often competed with by her neighbors, Plymouth, Con-
necticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, who were
jprotected against her by a jealous government in Eng-
iland, and that the Dutch cut off her ambitious territorial
aspirations to the west. In the separate colonial life was
sown the spirit of local patriotism which is now embodied
in the American States. In New England, as in the
South, there was a leading, but never a dominant, colony;
the smaller colonies shared the experiences of the larger,
but were freer from calamitous changes, and enjoyed in
some respects governments which were more immediately
under the control of the people.
The end of the century saw all the New England colo-
nies established on what seemed a permanent basis of
loyalty to the Crown and of local independence.
178 New Englafid, [Ch. VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN NEW
ENGLAND IN 1700.
74. References.
Bibliographies. — Same as §§ 47 and 63, above; Channing
and Hart, Guide, § 130.
Historical Maps. — Same as § 47, above.
General Accounts. — Osgood, Colonies; Doyle, Colonies, III.
ch. ix.; Lodge, Colonics, ch. xxii.; W. Weeden, Economic and So-
cial History; J. Bishop, History of American Manufactures;
American Statistical Association Publications, No. i.
Special Histories. — Manners and customs : Earle, Costumes
of Colonial Times, Customs and Fashions in Old New England,
Sabbath in Puritan New England, and Stage Coach and Tavern
Days; W. Bliss, Colonial Times on Buzzard's Bay, and Old Colony
Town; F. Child, Colonial Parsons of New England; J. Felt,
Customs of New England; Fisher, Men, Women, and Manner^,
I. chs. ii.-v.; Howe, Puritan Republic, chs, v.-ix.; W. Love, Fast
and Thanksgiving Days ; M. Ward, Old Colony Days; Wharton,
Colonial Days and Dames. — Education: C. Johnson, Old Time
Schools and School Books; E. Brown, Making of our Middle
Schools. — Theology: B. Adams, Emancipation of Massachusetts;
F. Foster, New England Theology; M. Greene, Development of
Religious Liberty in Connecticut ; C. F. Adams, Antinomianism. —
Press: C. Duniway, Freedom of Press in Massachusetts; G.
Littlefield, Early Massachusetts Press; R. Roden, Cambridge
Press. — Slavery: G. Moore, Slavery in Massachusetts; G. Wil-
liams, Negro Race in America, 1619-1880; W. Dubois, Suppres-
sion of Slave Trade. — On the witchcraft delusion : C. Upham,
Salem Witchcraft; S. Drake, Annals of Witchcraft; J. Taylor,
Witchcraft Delusion in Connecticut. — Medical practice : O.
Holmes, Medical Profession in Massachusetts. See also, biog-
raphies of prominent men.
Contemporary Accounts. — Same as § 63, above.
:h. VIII.] Geop;raphy* 179
75. Land and People.
North of Cape Cod the shores of New England are
■ugged and forbidding, though the coast-line is indented
by numerous inlets from the sea, affording safe
"jeography. , rr^ , . /■ i i
anchorage. To the south of the cape there are
ilso abundant harbors ; but the mountains nowhere ap-
proach the shore, and the beach is wide, with a sand strip
extending for some distance inland, while treacherous
j-ihoals are not uncommon. The rivers, except those in
'Maine and the Merrimac and the Connecticut, are small,
md have their sources in innumerable small la'kes ; the
ipper streams fall in successions of picturesque cascades,
die water-power of which is often profitably utilized in
manufacturing ; and the larger rivers are held back by
^reat dams, about wiiich have grown up the manufactur-
ing towns of Manchester, Nashua, Lowell, Lawrence,
Holyoke, and many others.
Two ranges of mountains traverse New England :
che Green Mountains and their continuation, the Berk-
shire Hills, run nearly north and south from Canada to
Connecticut ; the White Mountains form a group, rather
than a chain, nearer the coast. In the eastern half of
Maine the low watershed comes down to within one
hundred and forty miles of the sea-shore, and the Atlantic-
coast region may be said practically to end there. The
highest elevation in the Appalachian system north of
North Carolina is Mount Washington (six thousand two
hundred and ninety feet), in the White Mountain range.
The soil of New England is for the most part thin, and
interspersed with rocks and gravel. The banks of some
of the principal rivers are enriched by alluvial deposits
left by overflows ; there are fair pasturage lands in Ver-
mont and New Hampshire, while Maine, back from the
shore, has much good soil. The New England hills are
l8o New England. [Ch. VIIi
rich in quarries of fine building stone. Their minera
wealth is not great ; iron and manganese have been founc
in considerable quantities, together with some anthracite
coal, lead, and copper. Originally New England was one
vast forest, and the trees had to be cleared away in ordei
to prepare the soil for cultivation. The climate is subjeci
to rapid variations, being generally accounted superb ir
the summer and autumn ; but the winters are long anc
severe, and the springs late and brief.
The natural obstacles to human welfare in New Eng-
land were great; but the English settlers were men oJ
tough fibre and rare determination. They were nol
daunted by rugged hills, gloomy forest, harsh climate
and niggardly soil. With courageous toil they built uj:
thrifty towns along the narrow slope, and erected endur-
ing commonwealths, in which the English institutions tc
which they had been accustomed were reproduced, and
often improved upon.
The population of New England in 1700, by which
time a second generation of Englishmen had arisen
Thepopuia- ^'^ America, is roughly estimated at aboul
*'0"- a hundred and five thousand souls, of whom
seventy thousand were in Massachusetts and Maine, five
thousand in New Hampshire, six thousand in Rhode
Island, and twenty-five thousand in Connecticut. The
people were almost wholly of pure English stock. Up
to 1640, when the first great Puritan exodus ceased, lul
twenty thousand English Dissenters, mainly from the
eastern counties of England, came to New England ;
thenceforth the population, says Palfrey, " continued to
multiply on its own soil for a century and a half, in
remarkable seclusion from other communities." During
this time there was a small infusion of Normans from the
Channel Islands, Welsh. Scotch-Irish (chiefiy in 1652 and
1719), and Huguenots (1685). It is computed that at the
Ch. VIII.] Population and Social Classes. i8i
opening of the Revolutionary War ninety-eight per cent
of New England people were English or unmixed des-
cendants of Englishmen. Nowhere else in the American
colonies was there so homogeneous a population, or one
of such uniformly high quality. As said Stoughton,
lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts (1692-1701): "God
sifted a whole nation, that he might send choice grain
over into this wilderness/''
76. Social Classeu and Professions.
Social distinctions were almost as sharply drawn in
New England as in the South, There was a power-
ful and much-respected aristocratic class, be-
ginning with the village " squire " and ending
with the Crown officials in the capital towns. *' The
foundations of rank," says Lodge, "were birth, ancestral
or individual service to the State, ability, education, and
to some extent wealth." The recognized classes were,
in order of precedence, gentleirien, yeomen, merchants,
and mechanics ; and at church the people were puncti-
liously seated according to station. Down to 1772 the
students in Harvard College were carefully arranged in
the catalogue in the order of their social rank, the
Hutchinsons, Saltonstalls, Winthrops, and Ouincys near
the head. There was also a distinction between new-
comers and old-comers, the "old family" class laying
some pretensions to social superiority. The aristocrats
were not men of leisure, — everybody m New England
worked; but the public offices and the professions were
reserved for gentlemen. Now and then some of them
conducted lar^e estates, although aristocrac)' was not, as
in England, supported on landed possessions and primo-
geniture. The force of public opinion alone separated
the classes ; with the growth of the democratic idea,
social barriers ultimately weakened, although they con-
1 82 New England. [Ch. VIII.
tinued to appear in the politics of the commonwealth
down to the middle of the present century.
Slaves were comparatively few in number, the greater
part of them being house and body servants, and they
were not harshly treated ; travellers have left
record of the fact that some of the humbler
farmers ate at table with their human chattels. The race
was, however, generally despised, and in one of the old
churches in Boston is still to be seen the lofty "slaves'
gallery." Judge Samuel Sewall issued the first public
denunciation of slavery in Massachusetts, in a pamphlet
issued in 1700, wherein he denounced "the wicked prac-
tice." For many years this distinguished jurist and diarist
followed up his assaults, allowing no opportunity to es-
cape wherein he might espouse the cause of the op-
pressed " blackamores " and mitigate the severity of the
laws against them. But the colonists in general saw
nothing in the system to shock their moral sense, and it
was not until the Revolution that anti-slavery ideas began,
in New England, to spread beyond a narrow circle of
humanitarians.
There was a full system of courts, ranging from the
colonial judges down to the justices of the peace and
The legal "commissioners of small causes," appointed
profession, by colonial authority in each town. The
magistrates were uniformly men of good character, of
the upper, well-educated class, and rendered substantial
justice, although not specially trained in the law. The
legal profession was practically neglected throughout the
seventeenth century, doubtless owing in great part to
lack of facilities for study and to the overtowering im-
portance of the ministry ; we do not read of a profes-
sional barrister in Massachusetts until 1688. There was,
however, no lack of litigation ; personal disputes were rife
in Rhode Island, and in Connecticut there were frequent
^H. VIII.] Slavery a7id the Pi'ofessions, 183
egal contests between towns regarding lands. Between
he colonies, also, there were complicated and hotly-con-
ested boundary disputes. The bar gained strength, but
t was not till about the middle of the eighteenth century
hat it stood beside the ministry.
We have had frequent evidences, in preceding chap-
ers, of the large influence of the clergy in the temporal
rhemin- affairs of New England. The ranks of the
^"■y- Puritan ministry contained men of the best
ibility and station; they were pre-eminently the strongest
:lass, and as the popular leaders, deeply impressed their
:haracter upon the laws and institutions of the com-
nunity. They were held in great affection and rever-
ence ; but in a body of sturdy, intelligent parishioners
hey could maintain their supremacy only by the exercise
)f superior mental gifts : their calling was one offering
ich rewards for excellence, and attracted to it men of
he finest calibre, like the Mathers and Hooker. The
;loth or the dullard was soon taught by his people that he
lad mistaken his calling. Jonathan Edwards, although
)f a later period than that of which we are treating, was
I fair type, and his early resolution "to live with all my
night while I do live," was an expression of the spirit
.vhich dominated his order.
It was an age in which quackery flourished. The regu-
ar physicians, though excellent men and highly regarded
by the people, depended upon nostrums, and
had little medical knowledge ; they were in
.he main " herb-doctors " and " blood-letters." Many
3f the practitioners were barbers, and others clergymen.
' This relation between medicine and theology," writes
Dr. Holmes, "has existed from a very early period; from
;he Egyptian priest to the Indian medicine-man, the alli-
mce has been maintained in one form or another. The
partnership was very common among our British ances-
184 New England. [Ch. viii.
tors." There were few facilities for the study of medicine
in the colonies until after the Revolution. The first med-
ical school in America was established in Philadelphia,
about 1760.
77. Occupations.
Unlike the Southern colonists, New Englanders were
dependent on England only for the most important man-
Domestic ufactures. Mechanics were sufficiently nu-
manufac- mcrous in every community. The lumber
industry was important, and in Connecticut
and Massachusetts there was profitable iron mining,
which gave rise to several kindred pursuits. There
being abundant water-power, small saw and grist mills
were numerous ; there were many tanneries and dis-
tilleries ; the Scotch-Irish in Massachusetts and New
Hampshire made linens and coarse woollens, and beaver
hats and paper were manufactured on a small scale. The
people were largely dressed in homespun cloth, and a
spinning-wheel was to be found in every farm-house. It
was not until after the Revolution, however, that New
England manufacturing interests attained much magni-
tude ; the home government, through the Acts of Navi-
gation and Trade (page 104), had discouraged, as far as
possible, American efforts in this direction.
The fisheries, particularly whale and cod, were an
important source of income, those of Massachusetts
being estimated, in 1750, at ^250,000 per year.
Fishers' hamlets, with their great net-reels and
drying stages, were strung along the shores. The men
engaged in the traffic were hardy and bold, no weather
deterring them from long voyages to Newfoundland anc
Labrador, while whale-fishers ventured into the Arctic
seas. From their ranks were largely recruited the supert
sailors who made the American navy famous in the two
wars with England.
Ch. VIII.] Mamifacttires and Commerce, 185
A pinnace, called the " Virginia," was constructed by
the Popham colonists in 1607, — the first ocean-going
Ship- vessel built in New England. Ship-building
building. ^as f^rsl- undertaken at Plymouth in 1625, and
in Massachusetts six years later (1631). By 1650 New
England vessels were to be seen all along the coast,
and carried the bulk of tlie export cargoes. Before 1724
English ship carpenters complained of American com-
petition. In 1760 ships to the extent of twenty thou-
sand tons a year were being turned out of American
shipyards, — chiefly in New England ; and most of them
found a market in the mother-country.
Dried fish was the chief commodity carried out of New
England, and was exported in American bottoms to
i Spain, Portui^al, and the West Indies. Fish-
Commerce. .,1-1 1 r n* . ,
oil and timber were also sent out or Mame and
^lassachusetts to foreign countries ; hay, grain, and cattle
were taken to New York, Philadelphia, and the West
Indies. There was an active longshore coasting service
by small craft, which ascended the rivers and gathered
produce from the farmers ; these they took to neighbor-
ing ports, and brought back other colonial products in
exchange. Larger vessels went with miscellaneous cargoes
to the West Indies, and returned with slaves and sugar.
New Englanders manufactured rum from West India
sugar and molasses, and exported tlie finished product.
There are instances of New England ships taking rum to
Africa, where it was exchanged for slaves; these slaves
were then transported to the West Indies, to be bartered
for sugar and molasses, which was carried home and
converted into rum. It was a day when kegs of rum and
wines were given to ministers at donation parties, and
ministers themselves made brandy by the barrel for do-
mestic use, and sold it to their parishioners. Wines
were imported from Madeira and Malaga, and manu-
1 86 New England. [Ch. Vlll.
factured goods from England and the Continent. A very
large and profitable business was done in the general
carrying trade, which was developed by enterprising New
England men in all the sister colonies. Boston alone
employed, by the middle of the eighteenth century, about
six hundred vessels in her foreign commerce, and a thou-
sand in her fisheries and coast-trade.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century the popula-
tion was in about equal degree engaged in trade and
Distribution agriculture. Trade was the chief calling in
ofoccupa- Rhode Island, and agriculture in Connecticut
and New Hampshire, while in Maine and
Massachusetts both flourished. All of the colonies were
also much interested in the fisheries.
78. Social Conditions.
Boston, Newport, and New Haven were the chief towns;
the former was at this time the centre of political and mer-
cantile life on the North American continent,
and there were external evidences of consider,
able wealth and some luxury. New Haven was famed for
its prosperous appearance, and the houses of its rich men
were of a better style of architecture than commonly seen
in the colonies. Small villages, neighborhood centres
of the several townships, abounded everywhere. The
houses of the minister and the school-teacher, with the
little shops of tradesmen and artisans, formed the nucleus
around which the farm-houses were grouped with more o"*
less density. The village streets, overhung with arching
elms, were kept in tolerable order by the " hog-reeves,"
*' fence-viewers," and other town officials. The quaint,
roomy, gambrel-roofed houses were scrupulously plain and
clean, and were presided over by model housewives.
r'
:h. VIILJ Life and Manners. 187
The people in these rural communities were in mod-
erate financial circumstances, neat in habit, intelligent,
Life and ^^^^ fairly educated; both sexes, young and
nners. old, vvorked hard, were frugal, thrifty, and as
1 rule rigid in morals. While coldly reserved towards
strangers, they were kind and hospitable, and noted fat"
and wide for their acute inquisitiveness. They wore so-
ber-colored garments except on Sunday, the important
day of the week, when there was a general display of quaint
nnery of a sombre character. The men wore long stock-
ings and knee-breeches, with buckled shoes ; workmen had
Ijreeches and jackets of leather, buckskin, or coarse can-
vas, while tliose of higher degree were generally dressed
in coarse homespun, — only the richest could afford
imported cloths. Their great open fireplaces were ill-
ladapted to withstand the winter's rigor. Their churches
were wholly unprovided with heating accommodations.
Their diet was spare. The well-to-do prided themselves
on their old silver tableware, and New England kitchens
were noted for their displays of brightly burnished pewter
and brasses. Cider and New England rum were favorite
Ijeverages ; b.iit drunkenness was less prevalent than in
the other colonies : the New England temperament was not
inclined to excesses and roistering. The general tone of
life was sedate, even gloomy; the Puritans had "a lurk-
ing inherited distrust for enjoyment," yet they cultivated
a certain dry humor, and for the young people there was
not lacking a round of simple amusements, such as
house-raisings, dancing parties, and husking, spinning,
quilting, and apple-paring bees, into which the neighbor-
hoods entered with great zest. In the towns there was
more pretension and ceremonial ; but taking changed
conditions into account, the life of the townspeople and
their habits of thought differed but little from those of
their rural cousins.
1 88 New Enorla7id. [Ch. Vlli.
<:>
The highways were generally of fair character, but the
larger streams were unbridged. Outside of the neighbor-
Roads and hoods of the large towns wheeled vehicles,
travel. except for heavy loads, were not common
until the time of the Revolution. Horseback was the
ordinary mode of travel. A tavern kept by some leading
citizen could be found in every town, with good lodgings
at reasonable rates, although there was general complaint
of the cookery. Nowhere else in the colonies was there
so much intercommunication as in New England.
79. Moral and Religious Conditions.
A system of public education was among the first insti-
tutions established by the Puritans. Each town had its
school ; by 1649 there was no New England
colony, except Rhode Island, in which some
degree of education was not compulsory. Deep learning
was rare, but the people were well drilled in the rudi-
ments ; except on the far-off borders of Maine there was
no illiteracy in New England when the Revolution broke
out. Latin schools and academies soon supplemented
parental instruction and the common schools. We have
seen that Boston was but six years old when Harvard
College was established (1636); and Yale College was
opened at New Haven in the year 1700.
Crime appears to have been less frequent in New Eng-
land than in the Southern or the middle colonies; the
highways were safe after the close of King
Philip's war and the Tarratine trouble ; doors
and windows were seldom barred in the country, and
young women could travel anywhere with perfect safety.
The list of capital crimes was a long one in that day, as
well in the mother-land as in the colonies, and hangings,
particularly of the pirates who infested the coast, were
pH. vill] Rcligioit. 189
spectacles frequently seen in New Enp;land. A more
:ruel form of punishment was reserved for the negro
race. There were several cases of negroes being burned
at the stake for murder or arson. Great publicity was
given to all manner of punishments ; gibbets, stocks,
ducking-stools, pillories, and whipping-posts were familiar
objects in nearly every town. Criminals might also be
branded, mutilated, or compelled to wear, conspicuously
sewed to their garments, colored letters indicative of the
offences committed. Hawthorne's romance of the " Scar-
let Letter" is based on this last-named custom.
Organized on the Independent, or Congregational,
form, each religious congregation was a law unto itself,
electing its own deacons and minister, and was
eigiou. ^^^ little influenced by the occasional synods,
jor councils of churches, which at last fell into disuse.
'At first the Church was bitterly intolerant; but this spirit
gradually softened as it became more and more separated
{from the State. By the close of the seventeenth century
John Eliot complained that religion had declined ; in
1749 Douglass was able to write, " At present the Con-
gregationalists of New England may be esteemed among
[the most moderate and charitable of Christian profes^
sions." The introduction of the Church of England
under Andros aroused bitter opposition. Ejjiscopalian-
ism was vigorously preached against until the Revolution;
but tliere was no great cause for complaint, as it was not
sought to foist it upon the people, but to gain for it a
hearing. The name " Bishop's palace," still applied to
a house in Cambridge which was supposed when built
to have been intended for an imported bishop, bears
testimony to the popular feeling against the system. It
had no success except among the Tory element in
Boston and Portsmouth, — and later (1736-17 o) in New
Haven. In Rhode Island perfect tolerance made the
igo New England, [Ch. Vlli
colony a harboring place for all manner of despised sectj
and factious disturbers driven out of other communities
and the spirit of turbulence long reigned there.
A " great awakening" of religious fervor affected Nev\
England between 1713 and 1744. Originating in North-
"The great ampton, Mass., in revivals under Solomor
awakening." Stoddard, the popular excitement became al-
most frenzied under Jonathan Edwards, beginning ir
1734. A visit from George Whitefield, the English reviv
alist, in 1740 caused a great fervor of religious interest
and it is estimated that twenty-five thousand converts
were made by the great agitator throughout his New
England pilgrimage. By 1744, when Whitefield again
visited the scene of his triumphs, the excitement had
greatly subsided.
80. The Witchcraft Delusion.
The witchcraft craze at Salem is commonly thought to
have been a legitimate outgrowth of the gloomy religion
The witch- ^f the Puritans. It was, however, but one of
craft craze, thosc panics of fear which during several cen-
turies periodically swept over civilized lands. In the
twelfth century thousands of persons in Europe were sac-
rificed because the people believed them to be witches, in
league with the devil, and with the power to ride through
the air and vex humanity in many occult ways. Pope
Innocent VIII. commanded (1484) that witches be ar-
rested, and hundreds of odd and repulsive old women
were burned or hanged in consequence. From King John
down to 171 2, innocent lives were constantly sacrificed in
England on this charge ; in the year 1661 alone, one hun-
dred and twenty were hanged there, ^t was therefore no
new frenzy that broke out in Massachusetts. In 1648
Margaret Jones was hanged as a witch at Charlestown ;
in 1656 the sister of Deputy-Governor Bellingham, for
i6g2.] Witchcraft Delusion. 191
being "too subtle in her perception of what wars: occur-
ring around her," suffered the same fate ; in 1688 an
Irish washerwoman named Glover went to the gallows
because a spiteful chilji said she had been bewitched by
the poor creature. ^"^
There was general despondency in Massachusetts in
1692, the result of four small-pox epidemics which had
quickly followed each other, the loss of the old
'"^ *"^ ^' charter, a temporary increase in crime, finan-
cial depression, and general dread of another Indian
outbreak. The time was ri£e for an epidemic of super-
stitious fear. All at once it broke out with great fury
in the old town of Salem. Despite the protest of Cotton
Mather and other prominent clergymen, who, though
fxTITevers in witches, condemned unjust methods of pro-
ct dure, a special court of oyer and terminer was hastily
organized (1692) by the governor and council for the trial of
the accused. Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton, who pre-
sided over this extraordinary tribunal, was in active sym-
]):ithy with the fanatics who conducted the prosecution.
Ihe witnesses were chiefly children, and the testimony
the flimsiest ever seriously received in an American court
of justice. But the judges, although sober and respect-
able citizens, were as deluded as the people; while the
fienzy lasted, nineteen persons were hanged for having
bewitched children in the neighborhood, and one was
pressed to death because he would not plead. Of the
hundreds of others who were arrested, two died while
in prison.
By the following year the craze had exhausted itself,
and there was a general jail-delivery. Many of the
Sewail'sre- children afterwards confessed to the falsity of
pentance. their testimony. Samuel Sewall was one of
the trial judges. He afterwards, while standing in his
pew in the Old South Church at Boston, had read at the
X92 New Eftgland. [Ch. vii]
desk a public declaration expressing his deep repentano
that he had been in such grievous error, and asking thi
congregation to unite with him in praying for the forgive
ness of God. Cotton Mather, however, endeavored t(
vindicate himself by~"the statement, " I know not tha
ever I have advanced any opinion in the matter of witch
craft but what all the ministers of the Lord that I knov
of in the world, whether English or Scotch, or P>ench o
Dutch, are of the same opinion with me."
Belief in witchcraft was not confined to Massachusetts
Evidence of this superstition — childish to us of to-day
The ^^^ ^ stern reality in the strongest minds of Cot
witchcraft tOH Mather's time — was noticeable through
delusion - , , . -,1 -in
elsewhere in out most 01 the colonics Until the middle o
the colonies, ^j^g eighteenth century. In 1705 a witch wai
"ducked" in Virginia. There were trials for witchcraf
in Maryland during the last quarter of the seventeentl
century, but there is no evidence extant of an execution
In Pennsylvania in 1683 a woman was tried as a witch
and bound to good behavior. In 1779, during a similai
panic among the French Creoles at Cahokia, 111., twc
netjro slaves were condemned to be hanged, and anothei
to be burned alive while chained to a post, on tlie charge
of practising sorcery; there is, however, no evidence thai
the sentence was carried out.
81. Political Conditions.
The town was in New England the political unit
The town-meeting was a primary assembly, at which
Administra- Were transacted all local affairs, — those which
t'o"- came nearest to the individual. The colonial
government dealt with general interests; the colonial
machinery of administration might break down, and yet
the immediate needs of the people would have been for
a time subserved by the town governments. This was
ir. VIII.] Political Conditions. 193
le case at the beginning of the Revolution. But the
dispensable function of legislation upon property and
)ntracts, the definition of crimes, and all the judicial
Tairs of the people, were from the first carried out
\; the colony. In the town-meetings — and in church
jngregations, which were for a long period scarcely dis-
nguishable from them — the people were trained in self-
)vernment ; their intellects were sharpened, and there
as bred a stout spirit of political self-sufficiency. By
le beginning of the eighteenth century a freehold test for
jffratje was common in New Eneland, as in most of the
^merican colonies. Taxes raised on land, polls, and
ersonal property were not onerous, as public expendi-
jres were carefully watched and criticised by a frugal
eople. The introduction of royal governors opened the
oor to bickerings between the executive and the legis-
iture, — so prominent a feature in eighteenth-contury
olonial history prior to the Revolution. Up to 1700,
ilh a few exceptions, the political machinery had run
uite smoothly, when not subjected to outside interfer-
nce. The several colonial governments in New Eng-
and varied in detail, but they were alike in being largely
ndependent of England, in being administered in a spirit
)f simplicity and economy, and ifi the extent to whic)i
lie body of the people were enabled to influence the
onduct of affairs.
New England men were brave and liberty-loving,
>toutly withstanding any attempt on the part of the home
government to curtail their rights as Eng-
^ummary.
lishmen or hamper their progress. 1 hey were
not always successful in their resistance, but were
vastly more independent than their French and Spanish
neighbors ; and the principles of popular government
were nowhere else, even in the English colonies, so suc-
cessfully put in practice. They were hard-working, fru-
13
194 ^^^ England. [Ch. vii
gal, God-fearing, educated, and virtuous men. The
sprang from a high quality of pure English stock, an
they had raised indeed "choice grain." They founde
an enduring empire amid obstacles that two and a ha
centuries ago might well have seemed appalling, Th
creed of the Puritans was harsh, their view of iif
gloomy, and their church intolerant; but their missioi
as they conceived it, was a serious one, and the storm
experience of Rhode Island was not calculated elsewher
to encourage looseness in religious thinking. They wer
enterprising and thrifty to a high degree. In com
merce, domestic trade, manufactures, and political saga
city, for nearly two centuries New England easily led a!
the American colonies. The nation owes much to th
wisdom, the energy, and the fortitude of New Englan(
colonial statesmen ; and New England institutions an
{^ to-day in large measure characteristics of the Americai
commonwealth. -^
:h. IX.] Middle Colonies, 195
CHAPTER IX.
THE COLONIZATION OF THE MIDDLE
COLONIES (1609-1700).
82. References.
Bibliographies. — Larned, Literature of American History,
p2-ioo; Andrews, Colonial Self-Government, ch. xx. ; Avery, II.
^i 7-42 1, 438-444, III. 413-418, 430-432, 443-445; Winsor, III.
^11-420, 449-456, 495-516, IV. 409-442, 488-502; Channing and
Hart, Guide, §§ 104-108.
Historical Maps. — Nos. i, 2, and 3, this volume {Epoch
Maps, Nos, I, 2, 3); Winsor, as above.
General Accounts. — Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonies;
Doyle, Colonies, IV.; Lodge, Colonies, chs. ix.-xvi.; Channing,
United States, I. chs. xvi., xvii., II. chs. ii., iv., v., vii.; Avery, II.
chs. iv., xi., xii.. III. chs. iv.-vi., xv., xvii., xviii., xxvi.; Andrews,
as above, chs. v.-viii., xi., xii.; Winsor, III. chs. x.-xii., IV. chs.
viii., ix.
Special Histories. — New York : Roberts (Commonwealths),
and Brodhead: O'Callaghan, New Netherlands; G. Schuyler,
Colonial New York, I.; W. Grifiis, New Netherland; histories of
New York city by Innis, Janvier, Lamb, Rensselaer, Roosevelt,
Stone, and Wilson. — Delaware: Conrad and Scharf; Jameson,
Willem Usselinx. — New Jersey : Lee, Mulford, Raum, and
Tanner; F. Stockton, Stories of New Jersey ; A. Melick, Old New
Jersey Farm. — Pennsylvania : S. Fisher, Making of Pennsylvania ;
H. Jenkins, Pennsylvania; I. Sharpless, Two Centuries of Penn-
sylvania, and Quaker Government ; A. Myers, Irish Quakers; O.
Kuhns, German and Swiss Settlements ; J. Sachse, Pennsylvania
Germans, and German Pietists ; Scharf and Westcott, Philadelphia.
Contemporary Accounts. — Josselyn, Two Voyages (1675);
Dankers Sluyter, Voyage to New York (1679); Pcnn, Some Ac-
count (1681); Budd, Good Order Established (1685); Sewel, His-
tory of Quakers (1722); Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania ; Gabriel
Thomas, West Jersey. Reprints : Colonial Documents and Records
of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania; Half Moon Series;
American History told by Contemporaries, I. part vi.; Jameson,
Original Narratives; publications by colonial and town record
commissions, and historical and antiquarian societies.
196 Middle Calonies, [Cii. IX
83. Dutch Settlement (1609-1625),
In September, 1609, Hendrik Hudson, an English
navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Com
Hudson's P^r^y? sailed up the river to which his name
discovery. j^^g been given by the English — the Dutch
called it North River — as far as the future site of Al-
bany. He found "that the land was of the finest kind
for tillage, and as beautiful as the foot of man ever trod
upon." Six weeks earlier Champlain, the commandei
of New France, had been on the shores of Lake Cham-
plain about one hundred miles to the north, fighting the
native Iroquois. The object of Hudson's search was
a familiar one in his time, — the discovery of a water-
passage through the continent that might serve as a
short-cut to India, where his masters were engaged in
trade. He did not find what he sought, but opened the
way to a lucrative traffic with the American savages,
whose good graces the thrifty Dutch strove to cultivate.
The French leader's introduction to the Iroquois had
been as an enemy, but the explorer from Holland came
as a friend : the Dutch reaped advantage from the
contrast.
Dutch traders annually visited the region of Hudson
River during the next few years. There was at first no
. attempt at colonization, for Holland just at
Early Dutch , ^ ^ ' , . rr
trading- that time was not prepared to give ofience
posts. ^Q j-^gj. qI^ enemy, Spain, which claimed most
of North America by the right of discovery and Pope
Alexander's bull of partition. Nevertheless, the countrj;
was styled New Netherland, and Holland recognized
it as a legal dependency. A Dutch navigator, Adrian
Block, as the result of an accident, spent a winter on
either Manhattan or Long Island, and built a coasting-
vessel (161 4) for trafficking in furs. A small trading-
^11609-1623.] New Netherland. 197
J
lOuse, called Fort Nassau, was also erected this year
jn the site of Albany ; a similar establishment, with-
3Ut defences, and surrounded by a few huts for traders,
was built on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of the
river, the following season (i6[5); a new Fort Nassau
was afterwards (1623) set up on the Delaware River,
four miles below the site of Piiiladelphia, but was soon
abandoned.
In 1 61 5 the New Netherland Company obtained a trad-
ns: charter from the States General of Holland. The cor-
rh New poration was granted a monopoly of the Dutch
Netherlands fur traffic in Ncw Netherland for three years,
"^ "^' and conducted extensive operations between
Albany and the Delaware, coastwise and in the interior.
The Dutch thus far had not ventured to exercise polit-
ical control over the New Netlierland. The country
was still claimed by the English Virginia Company.
The land originally granted to the Pilgrims from Leyden
by the latter company was described as being " about the
Hudson's River." We have seen how the party on the
" Mayflower" were prevented by storms — or possibly by
the design of the captain — from reaching their destina-
tion and planting an English colony in the neighborhood
of the Dutch trading posts.
In 1621 the Dutch West India Company came upon
the scene as the successor of the New Netlierland Com-
pany. Its charter bade it " to advance the
The Dutch ,. . , . . . . , , ,
West India pcoplmg of those fruitful and unsettled parts,"
Company. ^^^ ^^ u ^^ ^\ ^}^^^ ^j^g scrvice of those coun-
tries and the profit and increase of trade shall require."
The corporation was given almost absolute commercial
and poHtical power in all Dutch domains between New-
foundland and the Straits of Magellan, the home govern-
ment reserving only the right to decline confirmation of
colonial officers. Three years elapsed before the com'
198 Middle Colonies, jCh. IX
pany attempted to plant a colony. Thirty families o:
Protestant Walloons — a people of mixed Gallic and Teu
tonic blood, living in the southern provinces of Holland
whose offer to settle in Virginia had been rejected by th(
English — were sent over by the Dutch proprietors (1624
to their new possessions. The greater part of the emi
grants went to Albany, which they styled Fort Orange
others were sent to tlie Delaware River colony; a smal
party went on to the Connecticut; a few settled on Lon^
Island; and eight men stayed on Manhattan. These set
tlements, relying for their chief support on the fur-trad(
with the Indians, were quite successful, and the Nev
Netherlands soon became an important group of com
mercial colonies.
84. Progress within New TTetherland (1626-1664).
In 1626 Peter Minuit, then director for the company
purchased Manhattan from the Indians, united all th(
^, , settlements under one system of direction, am
The settle-
merits foundcd Ncw Amsterdam (afterwards Nev
united. York city) as the central trading depot. Ir
every direction the trade of New Netherland grew.
As the settlers seemed to be interested in commerce
and agricultural colonization did not flourish, the corpora-
The patroon ^ion secured from the States-General a ne\^
system. charter of "freedoms and exemptions" (1629)
which they thought better adapted to the fostering ol
emigration. This document sought to transplant the
European feudal system to the American wilds. Mem.
bers of the Dutch West India Company might purchas(
tracts of land from the Indians and plant colonies thereon
of which these proprietors were to be the patroons, 01
patrons. Each patroon thus establishing a colony of fift3
persons upwards of fifteen years of age, was granted c
tract " as a perpetual inheritance," sixteen miles wide
523-1633-] The Patroons. 199
long the river, or eight miles on both sides, *' and so
ir into the country as the situation of the occupiers will
ermit." The company retained intervening lands ; but
o one might settle within thirty miles of a patroon colony
ithoiit consent of the patroon, subject to the order of the
ompany's officials. The patroons were given political
nd judicial power over their colonists ; the latter might
ake appeals to the New Netherlands council, but the pa-
roons were generally careful to bind the settlers before
.tarting out not to exercise this right.
Leading members of the company were quick to avail
hemselves of this opportunity to become members of a
'atroon landed aristocracy and absolute chiefs of what-
ettiements. ^yj^^ colonies they might plant. Small settle-
nents were soon made on these several domains, which
vere taken up chiefly along Hudson River, the princi-
pal highway into the Indian country. Van Rensselaer
V)iiiided Rensselaerswyck, near Fort Orange; Pauw se-
ined Hoboken and Staten Island; while Godyn, Blom-
Tiaert, De Vries, and others settled Swaanendael, on the
Delaware. Many of the old patroon estates long remained
individed, and the heirs of the founders claimed some
>emi-feudal privileges well into the nineteenth century.
Attempts to collect long arrears of rent on the great Van
Rensselaer estate led to a serious anti-rent movement
(i 839-1 846), which broke out in bloody riots and affected
New York politics for several years.
The patroons, as individuals, haughtily assumed to shut
out the Dutch West India Company, of which they were
n ir • members, from the trade of their petty inde-
with English pendent States. The corporation was not only
torn by internal dissensions, but soon had on
hand a quarrel with New England because of the estab-
lishment of a Dutch fur-trading post at Hartford, on the
Connecticut (1633), and the vain assertion of a right to
200 Middle Colonies, fCn. IX
exclude English vessels from the Hudson river. On the
south, the Dutch came into collision with Virginians
trading on the Delaware and the Schuylkill. Trade in
creased, but colonization did not thrive, owing in pari
to the rapacity of the palroons, and partly to the mis
management of the governors sent out to represent the
company.
The singular lack of tact displayed by Governor Kieft
led to an Algonquian Indian uprising (1643-45), which
An Indian resulted in the death of sixteen hundred sav-
war. ages, but left the border settlements in ruins,
and seriously checked colonial growth for several years.
The Algonkins being enemies of the Iroquois, the
friendship originally formed between the Dutch and the
latter was not disturbed by this outbreak.
In 1640 the company fixed the limits of a patroon's
estate at one mile along the river front and two miles in
depth, but did not disturb the feudal privi-
Attempts to , . ^ • a -it
foster coioni. Icgcs. As a counter-mfiuencc, a new class of
zntion. settlers was provided for. Any one going to
New Netherland with five other emigrants might take
two hundred acres of land as a bounty and be indepen-
dent of the patroons. A species of local self-government
was also provided for at this time, the officers of each
town or village being chosen by the directors of the
company from a list made up by the inhabitants. These
inducements do not seem to have attracted many colo-
nists, for when Peter Stuyvesant came out as governor
(1647), and strutted about Manhattan "like a peacock,
— as if he were the Czar of Muscovy," there were only
three hundred fighting men in the entire province.
Up to this time the people had been obliged to rely
chiefly on petitions as a means of presenting their political
grievances. In 1641 Kieft had been forced by popular
opinion to call a council of twelve deputies from the
633-1651-] New Sweden, 201
everal settlements to advise him in regard to treatment
f the Indians, and again in 1644 to consult as to taxes ;
h colo- '^"^ ^^ '^^^^ rough-shod over the deputies. The
ists Strug- pubHc outcry over this arbitrary conduct led to
ling for , . ,, 1 ,1 • ,•, . r
oiitical his recall and the institution of some minor re-
ghts. forms. Under Stuyvesant there was formed a
ouncil of nine, the members being selected by him from
list of popular nominations. The board was so ar-
anged as to be self-perpetuating, and the people, after
he original election, ceased to have any hand in its make-
ip. In an important struggle between Stuyvesant and
he residents of New Amsterdam (1651) relative to an
xcise tax, the director-general was obliged to yield.
A source of anxiety to the rulers of New Netherland
vas the heterogeneous character of the population. The
first permanent settlers had been the Walloons,
leous pop- The Dutch themselves soon followed. Besides
ilation. these were several bands of Protestant reform-
rs who had fled from persecution in Europe, and nu-
nerous sectaries from New England who had found life
ntolerable there. 'I'here were so many French-speaking
people in the district that public documents were often
printed both in French and Dutch. In 1643 it was re-
ported that eighteen languages were spoken in New
A.msterdam.
The South Company of Sweden sent out a colony in
[638 under charge of Minuit, formerly employed by the
Dutch West India Company. He built Fort
nentsbythe Cliristina, on the future site of Wilmington,
swedes. Del., and called the country New Sweden,
The Dutch governor at New Amsterdam vainly protested
aj^ainst this occupation of territory claimed by his em-
ployers. Two years later (1641) a party of Englishmen
from New Haven built trading-houses on the Schuylkill,
and at Salem, N. J., near P^ort Nassau, but were soon
202 Middle Colofties. [Ch. i:
compelled to leave. The Swedish enterprise went u:
checked until Stuyvesant's rule, when a fort was bui
(165 1) on the site of Newcastle, Del, below the Swedis
fort; and four years after this (1655) the South Con
pany was obliged, upon display of force, to abandon i1
enterprise.
85. Conquest of New Netherland (1664).
So long as a foreign nation and a formidable commei
cial rival held the geographical centre, the northern an
English southern colonies of England were separatee
interference, intercommunication was hampered, and ir
ternational boundary disputes arose. Moreover, Nc
Amsterdam had the best harbor on the coast, and th
Hudson river was an easy highway for traffic with th
Indians ; it was, as well, altogether too convenient fc
possible raids of French and Indians from the north
For these reasons England was desirous of obtainin,
possession of the New Netherlands. There were no
wanting excuses for interference. Englishmen in Cor
necticut, on Long Island, and on the Schuylkill had hai
land disputes with the Dutch, and there had been muc
bad temper displayed on both sides.
In 1654 Cromwell sent out a fleet to take the country
but peace between England and Holland intervened i
^ , , time to give to New Netherland a respite
England t ^^ • -
captures ten years. In 1664 Charles II. revived th
NetTier- claim that Englishmen had discovered th
lands region before the Dutch- In August of tha
year Colonel Nicolls appeared before New Amsterdam
then a town of fifteen hundred inhabitants, with a flee
of four ships, having on board four hundred and fift;
English soldiers and Connecticut volunteers, and de
manded its surrender. There was a stone fort an(
twenty cannon ; but the enemy were too strong to b(
11654-1664.] The English Conquest, 203
)rofitably resisted. Despite Stuyvesant's protest, " I
vould rather be carried to my grave" than yield, the
^vhite flag was eagerly run up by the frightened town
officers, and Dutch rule in New Amsterdam came to an
:nd.
By October every possession of Holland in North
\merica was in the hands of the English, who now held
the Atlantic coast from the Savannah to the
jfthecon- Kennebec The achievement of Nicolls had
"^^^* rendered it possible for the American colonies
o unite, and thus was of the greatest importance to the
olitical development of the country. Had King Charles
een able to foresee the trend of events, he would no
loubt have been glad to allow the Dutch to stand as an
)bstacle to the union of his transatlantic possessions.
The Duke of York was made proprietor of the con-
quered territory, the province and capital being now
styled New York ; Fort Orange was rechris-
if English tened Albany. But beyond the change of
"®* names, little was done to interrupt the smooth
:urrent of hfe, and Dutch customs in household and
rade were retained so far as practicable ; while the pub-
ic offices were impartially shared, and former Dutch
>fficials were consulted. There was one notable act of
njustice : all land-grants had to be confirmed by the
lew governor, Nicolls, and fees were exacted for this
lervice. Under English rule the prosperity of the
:olony greatly increased.
86. Development of New York (1664-1700).
The methods of local self-government were quietly
'ansformed. Under the Dutch, the towns, manors, and
:algov- villages held direct relations with the West
rnient. India Company. A systematic code drawn
>y Nicolls and a convention of the settlers (1665) —
204 Middle Colonies, [Ch. IX
promulgated as " the duke's laws " — provided for town-
meetings for the election in each town by a " plurality ol
the voices of the freeholders," of a constable and eight
overseers. These officers were the governing board oi
the town, with judicial and legislative powers, thus differ-
ing from the New England selectmen, who but carried
out the mandates of the town-meeting. There was cre-
ated a judicial district called a " riding," with an area em-
bracing several towns and preside 1 over by a sheriff. In
1683, these ridings developed into counties; afterward?
(1703), it was arranged that a supervisor was to be elected
by the freeholders in each town, to represent it in a
county board whose duties were chiefly to levy, collect
and apportion taxes. Thus we see the genesis in the
middle colonies of the mixed system of local government,
— town and county being of equal importance, with elec-
tive executive officers in each : it was a compromise be-
tween the town system of New England and the countj
system of Virginia ; and this mixed system now prevails
in perhaps most of the States of the Union. The duke's
charter enabled him to make all laws, without asking the
advice or assistance of the freemen. By " the duke's
laws," power was vested in the hands of the governoi
and council, the people being wholly ignored in all mat-
ters above the affairs of the riding. Perfect religious
liberty was allowed throughout the province.
In 1672 England and Holland were again at war, anc
Francis Lovelace, then governor of New York, madt
such preparations as he could against antici-
Recapture i t^ &
by the pated attack. The Dutch colonists had hac
more or less trouble about taxes with the Eng-
&
lish authorities, and there had been some friction because
the duke had made grants to Carteret and Berkeley ir
what afterwards by the release became New Jersey, anc
thus had still further complicated land-titles ; but in gen-
665-1688.1 Aiidros in Nezv York, 205
rai the English rule had been borne with comparative
quanimity. Nevertheless, the Dutch were highly de-
ii;hted when a fleet from Holland appeared before the
ity (1673), ^"^d easily secured the surrender of the
)lace.
fifteen months later (1674) the treaty o<^ Westminster
L , , ceded the province back to England, and it
England ^ *= '
gain in bccamc Ncw York once more. The popula-
"isession. ^. . .1 • ^' \ l xi j
tion at tins tnne was about seven thousand.
Edmund Andros, later concerned in the attempt to re-
uce New England (page 174), now came out as governor.
ifhe rule of ^^^ domestic policy was wise, and the prov-
ndros. jnce experienced a healthy growth, the iur-
rade being greatly expanded under his administration
oth Nicolls and Andros sought to neutralize the ill
ffects of the New Jersey grants 1/y contending that ther
vere still tributary to New York, and Andros, in particu-
ar, adopted aggressive measures to maintain what he
leld to be his prerogative ; but Carteret and Berkeley
were too influential at court, and the governor was re-
:alled (1680) and given other employment.
Under Gov. Thomas Dongan (i 683-1 688) the govern-
ment yielded to the clarr.cr of the people, who pointed
Charter of ^o the greater freedom allowed the New Eng-
iiberties, landers; and an assembly was formed com-
posed of eighteen deputies elected by the freeholders.
A charter of liberties was adopted by this body, with the
king's consent, making the assembly co-ordinate with the
governor and council ; freeholders and freemen of cor-
porations were invested with the franchise ; religious
toleration was ordained for all Christians ; taxes were
not to be levied without the assembly's sanction: but all
laws were to require the assent of the duke, who was
also to grant lands and establish custom-houses. This
liberal treatment was of short duration. The Duke ol
206 Middle Colonies. [Ch. i:
York came to the throne in 1685 as James II., and h
reign was signalized by depriving his subjects in Ne
York of their representative government (1686). Tl
governor and council were ordered to estabh'sh the Chun
of England in the province, and to refuse permits '
schools not licensed by the Church.
In 1688 New York was annexed to New Englar
under the rule of Andros, who was represented in Ne
Leisier's York by a deputy, Francis Nicholson. Lat
revolution. Jq t]^g yg^j- news came of the Revolution
England. Jacob Leisler, an energetic but uneducate
German shopkeeper, who had come out as a soldier :
the West India Company's employ, headed the millt
in driving Nicholson out and proclaiming the Prince <
Orange. Leisler assumed the government ; but his ru
was rash and arbitrary, although there is no doubt c
his patriotic spirit, and soon there arose a demand froi
the conservative element for his withdrawal. By variou
subterfuges, however, he retained office for three year:
His term was distinguished by his issuance of a ca
for the first Colonial Congress held in America ; it mc
at Albany, February, 1690, with seven delegates, chiefl
from New England, and sought to organize a retaliator
raid against the French and their Algonquiaii allie;
who had recently swept Schenectady with fire and tomj
hawk. The following year (1691) Leisler was forced t
surrender to the royal governor. Col. Henry Sloughtei
who soon after, while intoxicated, was induced by Leisler
enemies to sign the death-warrant of his predecessor.
A representative assembly was called, which annulle
Leisier's proceedings and formulated a code similar t
^, . the earlier charter of liberties. Gov. Benjs
Closing '
years of the min Fletcher (i 692-1 698) was notoriously coi
century. rupt. He ]evied blackmail on the pirates an
smu2:s:lers who swarmed in. the harbors, and intrigued ic
688-1701.] Reorganization of New York, 207
noney with members of the assembly ; but in his deal-
ngs with the hostile French and Indians he was firm
.nd successful. In 1698 the Earl of Bellomont was ap-
)ointed governor, and New York, New Jersey, Massa-
:husetts, and New Hampshire were jointly placed under
)is rule. In New York he restored order, reduced
:rime, and rooted out corruption and piracy, so that
vhen he died (1701), his loss was sincerely regretted.
New York had gone through a development which
lown to the end of the eighteenth century marked the
haracter- colony out from her sisters. No other colony
sties of New had a history of any importance before the
English domination ; in no other colony were a
oreign race and a foreign language and customs so in-
Tenched. No colony had such an experience of control
i.'om England. The history of New York up to 1700 is
chiefly a history of administrations. The commercial
pre-eminence of New York was hardly shown in colonial
times. Its chief importance among the colonies arose
Dut of the relations with the Iroquois.
87. Delaware (1623-1700).
We have seen that the Dutch West India Company
established (1623) a trading post, called Fort Nassau,
Early Dutch on the banks of the Delaware River within
settlers. ^I^g present town of Gloucester, N. J., and
four miles below the future site of Philadelphia. The
settlers were a portion of the party of Walloons sent out
to America in that year. Eight years later (1631), De
Vries, Blommaert, and other patroons (page 199) of New
Netherlands founded Swaanendael, near the site of
Lewes, Del. ; but a quarrel soon arose between the new
settlers and the Indians, resulting in the complete mas-
sacre of the Swaanendael colonists and the driving away
of the garrison at Fort Nassau. In 1635 the patroons
208 Middle Colonies. [Ch. l>
owning lands on both shores of Delaware Bay and Rive
sold their possessions to the Dutch West India Company
and a small garrison was sent by the latter to re-occup
Fort Nassau. A party of Englishmen from New Have
attempted that year to settle in the district, but wer
taken to New Amsterdam as prisoners.
A third nation now appeared upon the scene as
competitor for the Delaware country. The South Con
pany of Sweden — which purposed tradinsf j
The South \ . .r ' , A -1 . 1, .
Company of Asia, Alrica, and America, but especially i
Sweden. ^^^ j^^^ — j^,^^ been chartered in 1624, unde
the auspices of the enterprising and ambitious Gustavu
Adolphus, by Willem Usselinx, an Amsterdam merchan
founder of the Dutch West India Company. Usselin
had become embittered against the Dutch company
which pursued a narrow and exclusive policy ; and wit
him in this new enterprise were associated several wh
had been formerly connected with the Dutch corporatioi
Among these were Samuel Blommaert, one of the chi(
patroons in the Delaware region, and Peter Minuit,
Walloon, once governor at New Amsterdam. Minuit le
the first Swedish trading colony to the Delaware Rive
(1638), and erected Fort Christina on the future site c
Wilmington, Del.
The governor at New Amsterdam, Kieft, proteste
loudly against this invasion of soil claimed by the Dutcl
although it was clearly within the grant a]
on the Dela- ready made to Lord Baltimore by the Enghsl
'^^^^' who probably had as good right in the distric
as the Dutch. The latter had indeed for a time allowe
it to revert to the Indians, after their first colonizin
attempt. Kieft rebuilt Fort Nassau, a menace to whic
the Swedes replied by fortifying the island of Tinicun
six miles below the mouth of the Schuylkill, thus plant
ing the first colony in Pennsylvania as well as in Deia
>35-i6561 Nezv Sweden. 209
are. In 1643 this island became the seat of Swedish
)vernment.
New Sweden prospered. The setders were industri'
ous, thrifty, intelliofent, and contented. Along:
•ospenty , , r
New the shores of Delaware River and Bay were
"* ^"" scattered neat hamlets, and the company's fur-
ade was extended far into the interior.
In 1641 two English settlements were made on the
ver by New Haven men ; but there was good reason to
A-edish ag- dlstrust the new-comers, who belonged to a
;ness ]and-hungry race, and Dutch and Swedes
nited to drive them out. Possibly the Swedes might
ave finally settled down into friendly neighborhood re-
itions with the Dutch, had not the Swedish governor.
ohn Printz, adopted an aggressive attitude towards the
Jew Netherlandei's. This led to reprisals. Stuyvesant,
/ho succeeded Kieft at New Amsterdam, built Fort
'asimir, near the present city of Newcastle, Del., below
he Swedish forts (1651), and thus endeavored to cut
hem off from ocean communication. In 1654 a Swedish
war-vessel anchored before Casimir, which
ill ofNew was quietly surrendered. The next year (1655)
.weden. Stuyvesant raised an army of six or seven
lundred men, which suddenly appeared on the Delaware,
)verawed the Swedes, and compelled them to abandon
:ontrol of the region. Thus New Sweden fell, amid a
;torm of protest, but without bloodshed.
Part of the Delaware country was sold by the Dutch
West India Company to the city of Amsterdam (1656).
The Dutch The officers sent out by the municipality were
lomination. ^s a rule inefficient, and the colony declined ;
Dad crops, famine, disease, Indian troubles, quarrels
with New Netherland, and boundary difficulties with
:he English in Maryland, being additional reasons for
retrogression.
14
2IO Middle Colonies. [Ch. ix
The city had just acquired the whole of the Delawan
River region, when the Enghsh took possession (1664)
English rule ^i^d Amsterdam rule was succeeded by that
established, the Duke of York, with laws similar to thos(
in vogue elsewhere in his province. There were a fev
outbreaks, but as a rule both Dutch and Swedes pros
pered under English domination.
The district was for some time the object of contentioi
by rival English claimants. Maryland and New Jerse^
both wanted it, but Penn finally secured ;
Annexed to . , ^ ^r> s • ^ •
Pennsyl- grant 01 the country (1682), to give his prov
vania. jj^^^ ^^ Pennsylvania an outlet to the sea
Delaware, now known as " the territories," " lower coun
ties," or "Delaware hundreds" of Pennsylvania, wa:
for many years the source of much anxiety to its Quake
proprietor, for political jealousy of the "province," o;
Pennsylvania proper, gave rise to much popular discon
tent. In 1691 the "territories" were granted a separat(
assembly and a deputy-governor. But the " territories '
and the '* province " were reunited under Fletcher's tem
porary rule (1693), and so remained until 1703, whei
Delaware was recognized as a separate colony, with ai
assembly of its own, although under the same governor
ship as Pennsylvania.
The separate existence of Delaware was almost ar
accident. The colony was unjustly cut out o:
Charactei^ , ■» ,r 1 1 1 1 • 1 1
istics of the Maryland grant, and was little more thai
Delaware. ^ strip along Chesapeake Bay. It remainec
down to the Revolution the smallest and least importan
of all the colonies.
88. New Jersey (1664-1738).
We have already noticed the erection of Fort Nassai
by the Dutch, and the struggle over the possession of th<
banks of Delaware River and Bay between the Dutch
664-1668.] Delaware and New Jersey. 211
be Swedes, and the English. When the Duke of York
ame into possession of the country (1664), he granted
the lands between the Delaware and the Hud-
crlcclcv
i,d Car- son to Lord Berkeley and Sir George Carteret,
irets grant, ^nder the name of New Jersey; this title was
1 compliment to Carteret, who had been governor of the
land of Jersey and bravely held it for Charles II. dur-
ig tlie Great Rebellion. New Jersey had a hundred
nd twenty miles of sea-coast ; it was as yet sparsely
ettled ; it had a fixed natural boundary on the west ;
nd it was considered a particularly desirable seat for
olonization.
The new proprietors agreed upon a plan of government
y which the administration of affairs was placed in the
, , hands of a governor, council, and representa-
.iberal plan . , f> . ' ,' , ^
f govern- tive assembly, as m the other colonies; the
^' proprietors reserved the right to annul laws
.nd to control the official appointments. There was to
)e religious liberty to all "who do not actually disturb
he civil peace of said province;" and all who were
ubjects of the king and swore fealty to him " and faith-
Lilness to the lords, shall be admitted to plant and be-
ome freemen."
Philip Carteret, a nephew of Sir George, came out
1665) 2.S governor, and with him a body of English emi-
grants, who founded the town of Elizabeth.
V body of °„ ' , , , , T-.
IA-. There were already on the ground, at Bergen,
rained. ^ uumbcr of Dutch and Swedes, while at
■^lirewsbury were several English sectaries, exiles from
Connecticut and Long Island, who had purchased land
"rom the Indians. Other New Englanders settled Mid-
iletown and Newark in 1666. Soon after the arrival of
O'arteret, several more companies came out to New Jer-
sey from the Eastern colonies, together with a plentiful
-.prinkling of Scotch. In May, 1668, deputies from each
212 Middle Colonies, [Ch. i)
of the towns met at Elizabeth to frame a body of law
for the colony. The Puritan element strongly influence
the code, particularly in the penalties for crime, whic
were remarkable for their severity.
Throughout 1672 there was much turbulence, owing t
disputes about quit-rents between the inhabitants an
The Quaker ^^e proprietors. Berkeley was by this tirn
purchase. thoroughly dissatisfied, and sold his undivicle
moiety of the province for a thousand pounds to a part
of Quakers who desired to found a retreat for their sect
nine tenths of this purchase soon (1674) fell into th
hands of William Penn and other Friends who were as
sociated with him. Two years later (1676) the Pen
party purchased the remainder of the Quaker interest.
In 1673 the Dutch recaptured the district. Whe
they were obliged by treaty (1674) to give it back to th
The Jerseys English, Charles II. and the Duke of Yor
divided. reaffirmed Sir George Carteret's claim in Ne)
Jersey. The new charter for the first time made a divi
sion of the country, giving Carteret the eastern part, --
much more than one half, — and leaving the rest to th
Quaker proprietors. In 1676, Carteret and the Quaker
agreed upon a boundary line, running from Little Eg;
Harbor northwest to the Delaware, at 41° 40'.
In West New Jersey the Quakers set up a libera
government, in which the chief features were religiou
West New toleration, a representative assembly, and ai
Jersey. executive council, whose members — " te:
honest and able men fit for government" — were to b
elected by the assembly. As a proprietary body, th
framers of these " concessions and agreements " re
tained no authority for themselves ; they truly saic
" We put the power in the people." To this refuge fo
the oppressed, four hundred Quakers came out fron
England in 1677-
,:668-i688.i The ycrseys. 213
Sir George Carteret died in 1680, and in 1682 Wil-
iam Penn and twenty-four associates — among whom
East New were several Scotch Presbyterians — pur-
jersey. chased East New Jersey from the Carteret
leirs. A government was estabhshed similar to that
n the western colony, except that tlie new proprietors
md their deputies were to form the executive council,
[n neither colony were the public offices restricted to
^^uakers, and every Christian possessed the elective
franchise.
Both the Jerseys had made excellent progress ; but for
ieveral years there was difficulty with Andros (page 205),
p . , , who claimed that the country was still the
he Duke of property of the Duke of York and therefore
within his jurisdiction, and who attempted to
.evy taxes. There was much bitterness over the dis-
pute, in the course of which Andros displayed a despotic
;eniper; but in the end the duke's claims were overruled
Dy the English arbitrator.
When the duke ascended the throne as James II., he
lad writs of quo ivarra7ito issued (1686) against the
Jersey governments on the ground of whole-
akes posses- Sale smuggling by the residents. Under this
.ion. pressure the patents were surrendered to the
Crown (1688), so far as the government was concerned,
Dut there was a proviso that the landed rights of the
oroprietors were to be undisturbed. Andros took the
:wo colonies under his charge; thus he was now gov-
rnor of all the country north and east of the Dela-
rvare, except New Hampshire. But though united to
he northern colonies, the Jerseymen did not cease to
issert their independence. Andros again attempted
o levy taxes upon them, and they opposed him as
stubbornly as ever, claiming that there could be no
awful taxation without representation. With the pro*
214 Middle Colonies, [Ch. ix.
prietors also they had ceaseless bickerings over the
quit-rents. Affairs were in a feverish state until the
iormer, tirea of keeping up the profitless discussion,
and now rent by dissensions in their councils, surren-
dered all their claims to the Crown (1702). The policy
of James was to unite the colonies, and bring them into
greater dependence.
New Jersey, at last reunited, was made a royal colony ;
but until 1738, when given a governor of its own, it was
New jer- under the administration of the governor of
sey'scordi- jsjew York, who rulcd through a deputy. The
tionasa xt t •» • i i .
royal prov- Ncw Jersey council was appointed by the
'"^^* king, and there was a popularly elected repre-
sentative assembly. All Christian sects were tolerated,
but Roman Catholics were denied political privileges.
There was a property qualification for suffrage, — the
possession of two hundred acres of land, or other prop-
erty worth ^50. The inhabitants were generally pros-
perous. Their isolated geographical position secured
them immunity from attacks by hostile Indians ; they
had scrupulously purchased the lands from the native
inhabitants, and with the few who were now left they
maintained friendly relations. The new government
brought them greater political security, and under it they
thrived even better than before.
The annals of New Jersey are like the population and
political system, — confused and uninteresting. It was
many years before a tradition of common in-
isticsofNew terest could be estabHshed between East and
Jersey. Wcst New Jersey. One of the most remarka-
ble lessons in government furnished by the colony was a
decision of the courts that an Act of the assembly was
void because not in accordance with the frame of
government.
/676-1682.] Pe7tnsylvania Foimded. 215
89. Pennsylvania (I68I-I7I8).
In 1676 William Penn, prominent among the English
Quakers, became financially concerned, with others of
Penn's ^is sect, in the colony of West New Jersey,
charter. and thereby acquired an interest in American
colonization. His father, an admiral in the English navy,
had left him (1670) a claim against the government for
sixteen thousand pounds ; in lieu of this he induced
Charles II. (1681) to give him a proprietary charter of
forty thousand square miles in America. The king
called the region Pennsylvania, in honor of the admiral,
but against the protest of the grantee, who " feared lest
it be looked on as vanity in me."
Penn at once widely advertised his dominions. He
offered to sell one hundred acres of land for ^^2, subject
Hiscolouiza- to a Small quit-rent, and even servants might
tion scheme, acquire half this amount. He proposed to
establish a popular government, based on the principle
of exact justice to all, red and white, regardless of re-
ligious beliefs; there was to be trial by jury; murder
and treason were to be the only capital crimes ; and
punishment for other offences was to have reformation,
not retaliation, in view. By the terms of the charter
Penn was, in conjunction with and by the consent of
the free-men, to make all necessary laws. The pro-
posals of the new proprietor were received with enthu-
siasm among the people of his religious faith throughout
England.
In October three ship-loads of Quaker emigrants were
sent out, and a year later (1682) Penn himself followed,
with a hundred fellow-passengers. At the time of his
arrival the Dutch had a church at Newcastle, Del.,
wliich was within his grant, the Swedes had churches
at Christina, Tinicum, and Wicacoa, and Quaker meet
2i6 Middle Colonies, [Ch. xi
ing-houses were established at Chester, Shakamaxon,
and near the lower falls of the Delaware.
The constitution drawn up by Penn for his colony
provided that the proprietor was to choose the governor,
Constitution t)ut the people were to elect the members of
and laws. \y^^ council, and also deputies to a representa-
tive assembly ; it was practically the West New Jersey
plan. The laws decided upon by the first assembly,
convened by the proprietor soon after his arrival, were
beneficent. They included provisions for the humane
treatment of Indians ; for the teacliing of a trade to each
child; for the useful employment of criminals in prisons;
for religious toleration, with the qualification that all pub-
lic officers must be professing Christians, and private
citizens believers in God. The principles set forth in
Penn's original announcement were thus given the sanc-
tion of law.
A distinction was made between the original Pennsyl-
vania, as granted by the king to Penn, and the territory
Relations afterwards known as Delaware, which the
between the latter had obtained in a special grant from the
ries " and Duke of York, — the royal grant being known
the province ^g "the province," and the purchase from
the duke as "the territories,'' of Pennsylvania. In the
province three counties were established, and in the
territories three more. These counties were given pop-
ularly elected governing boards, and were made the unit
of representation in the assembly; the towns were merely
administrative subdivisions of the counties, without any
form of local government.
Penn was eminently successful in treating with the
Relations Indians in his neighborhood. Circumstances
with the favored him greatly in this regard, but never-
theless much was due to his shrewd diplomacy
and humane spirit ; and for a long period the Quaker
684-1750] Disquiet in Pennsylvania, 217
listrict of Pennsylvania was exempt from the border
irarfare which harassed most of the other colonies.
Obliged to return to England in 1684, Penn did not
o^ain visit his American possessions until fifteen years
,,iiticai had elapsed, and then but for a brief time
irbulence. (1699-1701). This intervening period was
me of continuous political disquiet for the proprietor
nd the colonists alike, despite the fact that the mate-
jial condition of the people — Quakers, Swedes, Dutch,
"lermans, and Welsh alike — continued to improve. A
)Oundary dispute with Maryland required the interven-
ion of the English government (1685) as an arbitrator;
luring two years (1692-1694), Penn was dispossessed of
lis colony by the Crown ; and the turbulent " territories"
,^ave him so much trouble that he sought peace by erect-
ng them into the separate colony of Delaware in 1703.
Dissensions, however, did not cease either in the
)rovinces or in Delaware. Penn died in 1718, leaving to
lis heirs a legacy of petty but harassing disputes which
asted until the Revolution.
Planted as Pennsylvania was, half a century after the
arlier Southern and New England colonies, and r.ided
)y rich men and court favorites, its progress was rapid
ind its prosperity assured from the beginning. The pa-
. j _ cific policy of Penn towards the Indians saved
icsofPenn- his colony from the expense and danger of
yvania. frontier wars. Nevertheless from the begin-
ing the colony showed the same indisposition io sub-
Init to the control of proprietors that had so disturbed
iMaryland and the Carolinas. Notwithstanding, Penn-
sylvania shortly became the most considerable of the
middle colonies, and eventually equalled Virginia and
Miissachusetts in importance.
2l8 Middle Colonies, [Ch. x.
CHAPTER X.
SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS IN THE
MIDDLE COLONIES IN 1700.
90. References.
Bibliographies. — Same as § 82, above.
Historical Maps. — Same as § 82, above.
General Accounts. — Doyle, Colonies, IV.; Lodge, Colonies^
chs. xiii,, XV., xvii.; Andrews, Colonial Self -Government, chs. xviii.,
xix. See also histories of separate colonies, § 82, above.
Special Histories. — Topography: Semple, American His-
tory and its Geographic Conditions, chs. i.-iv. ; Roberts, New York,
I. ch. viii.; Scharf, Delaware, ch. i. — Manners and Customs:
Fisher, Men, Women, and Manners in Colonial Times, 1. chs. vi.,
vii., II. ch. viii.; Wilson, Rambles in- Colonial Byways; Earie,
Colonial Days in Old New York; C. Hemstreet, When Old Nerj}
York was Young; T. Janvier, Old New York; E. Singleton,
Dutch New York; J. Van Rensselaer, Goede Vrouw of M ana-ha-ta ;
A. Gummere, The Qimker: a Study in Costume; novels by
S. W. Mitchell. — Industries : Bishop, History of American Manu-
factures. — Slavery: J. Brackett, Negro in Maryland. See also
§ 82, above, and biographies of prominent men.
Contemporary Accounts. — Same as § S2, above.
81. Geographical Conditions in the Middle Colonies.
The middle section of the Atlantic plain in the United
States is distinguished by three deep indentations, -
Chesapeake, Delaware, and New York bays ;
ogr p y- Q2i^\^ Qf these is the expanded mouth of a com-
prehensive river system, and furnishes abundant anchor-
age, — New York bay being the finest harbor on the
continent. Along the coast south of New York is a
Jew, level base-pJain of saod and clay, from twenty-five to
H. X.] Geography. 219
fty miles in width, the larger towns being generally
ituated on the uplands beyond. The Appalachian
lountains extend in several ridges across the middle
istrict from southwest to northeast, the highest eleva-
ons being those of the Catskill group in southeastern
V' ew York, where Slide Mountain towers 4,205 feet above
ea-level. New Jersey is largely occupied by the base-
lain, with hills in the northwest. From the eastern
ange of mountains, the surface of New York slopes
ently down, with great diversity, to Lake Ontario; the
lountains are rent by the interesting and important
/ater-gap of the Mohawk valley, which in an earlier geo-
ogical age connected the lake basin with the trough of
he Hudson. Pennsylvania has three distinct topograph-
cal divisions: (1) the highly fertile district between the
ilue Mountains and the sea, — including Delaware; (2)
he middle belt of elevated valleys, separated by low par-
Jlel ridges of mountains rich in anthracite coal and iron
)re ; (3) the upland north and west of the mountain walls,
loping down to the tributaries of the Ohio with a wealth
)f bituminous coal, oil, and natural gas.
In the New York and Pennsylvania hills the numerous
ivers of the region have their rise. These rivers either
[nterminc- ^^^ westward into the Mississippi basin, north-
ing river- ward into the Great Lakes, eastward into the
deep cleft cut through the mountains by the
Hudson, or southward into the estuaries of the Delaware
and Chesapeake. Within a short distance of each other
are waters which will reach the Atlantic ocean by three
divergent routes, — through the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf
of St. Lawrence, and the bays we have mentioned. This
fact has had a potent influence on the course of American
settlement and trade, which have persistently followed
the water highways into the interior of the continent; and
along those rivers were fought two great wars.
220 Middle Colonies, 'Ch. X
The ease with which the French and Enghsh i
America could approach each other, along the almos
ry,, . , • continuous water-route formed by Hudso
1 heir his- _ ^ J
torical sig- River and Lake Champlain and their tribi
taries, made this central region the theatre of
protracted and desperate struggle throughout the Frencl
and Indian war; while we shall see that during the Revc
lution the Hudson was regarded as the key to the mih
tary situation. It has already been remarked (page 202
how important the English government deemed th
possession of the Hudson, in 1664, as a means to th
unification of the Anglo-American empire. Through it
Mohawk arm, waters running into the Great Lakes couh
be readily reached.
The soil in the middle district, back from the sand;
coast-belt, is for the most part fertile. Originally th(
Soil and entire country was densely wooded, even t(
climate. ^j^g summits of the mountains, which nowhen
rise to the snow-line. The climate is, judged by th(
record of average temperature, an agreeable compromisi
between New England and the South ; although, as else
where on the Atlantic slope, it is subject to rapid anc
extreme variations. Penn wrote that the " weather oftei
changeth without notice, and is constant almost in it
inconstancy."
92. People of the Middle Colonies.
The population of the middle colonies was noted for it
heterogeneous character. New York was first settled b
T. , . the Dutch, who ruled the district for fifty years
Population ' •' ^ .
of New After the English conquest (1664), Dutch in:
migration practically ceased ; nevertheless ii
1700 a majority of the whites were Dutch, although th
English, more of whom had emigrated from New Eng
:h. X.] Population. 221
[and than from the parent isle, were widely spread and
politically dominant. There were in 1700 about twenty-
five thousand inhabitants, perhaps two thousand five
hundred being blacks. Besides the prevailing Dutch and
English, there were many French Huguenots, a number
of Palatine Germans who had fled from persecution at
home, and a few Jews. The New York colonists chiefly
dwelt on the islands and shores of New York bay, and
the banks of the Hudson and Mohawk. Beyond this
thin fringe of settlement, the forest wall was for the most
part still unbroken. Agricultural development was as
yet slow, but the fur-trade was spreading far into the
interior.
East Jersey had a population of about ten thousand,
composed of Quakers, New England men, and Scotch
of the Presbyterians. Of the four thousand inhabi-
jerseys. tants of West Jersey, the Quakers were the
prevailing element. The population of New Jersey was
homogeneous, being very largely English ; the few Dutch,
Germans, and Swedes having little effect on the character
of the colony. Jersey-men were vigorous and quick-witted,
although Governor Belcher (i 748-1 757) wrote, "They are
a very rustical people, and deficient in learning."
Pennsylvania and Delaware had, together, a population
of about twenty thousand in 1700, having developed more
nd fP nn- rapidly than any Other of the American colonies.
syivania and Somewhat ovcr One half were English Quak-
ers, the others being sectaries from New Eng-
land, French, Dutch, Germans, Swedes, Finns, Welsh,
and Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. The Germans moved
in large numbers to what were then the western borders,
where they evolved a distinct dialect, popularly known
as " Pennsylvania Dutch." Although valuable pioneers
of civiHzation, they exhibited a stubborn temper, which,
with their strong opposition to the bearing of arms, made
222 Middle Colonies, [Ch. X.
them untrustworthy during the French and Indian wars.
The rugged, liberty-loving Scotch-Irish were a later
acquisition. The pure Irish, destined to become so
prominent on the frontier, did not commence arriving
until 1 719. The Swedes were strong, sturdy, and simple
agriculturists. The English Quakers were of the middle
class of tradesmen and small farmers. Their prejudice
against taking up arms made it difficult for the colonial
military officers to defend the province against the dis-
astrous Indian forays of the eighteenth century, and was
a fruitful source of political and social disturbance.
By the close of the seventeenth century a people had
grown up in most of the middle colonies which was
largely English in composition, with habits of speech,
thought, and manner greatly affected by English tradi-
tions, but still much modified by the liberal infusion of
blood from kindred nationalities on the continent of
Europe. The eager, enterprising spirit of the English,
quickened by removal to the New World, had, after a
generation or two of amalgamation, been noticeably tem-
pered by the phlegmatic temperament of the German,
Dutch, and Scandinavian settlers.
93. Social Classes.
In the middle colonies, as in New England and the
South, there existed an acknowledged aristocracy, al-
though there was a wide gap between the
haughty and elegant Dutch manor-chiefs in
New York and the rude gentlemen farmers who headed
New Jersey society. The servile classes common to the
Southern colonies were also present here, as a foundation
for aristocratic distinction ; but they were comparatively
insignificant in number. Nowhere in this middle group
was free white labor regarded as degrading; nearly all
cji. X] Social Classes and Slaves, 223
the colonists were workers, whether behind the desk
or the counter, in the shop or in the field. Trade was
exalted to a high station.
New York had many negroes, left over from the
Dutch rule, but there was a strong physical prejudice
against them, and their further importation
was gradually restricted. In 171 1 and 1741,
on insufficient evidence, the blacks were accused of plots
against the whites of New York city, and were cruelly
dealt with, — on the former occasion nineteen were
hanged; on the latter, eighteen suffered death by the
gallows, and thirteen were burned at the stake. The laws
against negroes were harsh in all of the middle colonies.
But in practice, slaves were mildly treated, compared
with those in the South. The Quakers were opposed to
human bondage on principle, yet many employed slaves,
chiefly as house-servants. There were numerous in-
dented servants, especially in Pennsylvania, and most
stringent laws were adopted for their regulation. From
these and the negroes the criminal class was recruited.
Among Pennsylvania Quakers were formed the first abo-
lition societies.
No aristocrats in America so nearly resembled the
nobility of the Old World as the great-landed Dutch
The Dutch proprietors in New York, — such as the Van
aristocrats. Rensselaers, the Cortlandts, and the Living-
stons. Their vast estates up the Hudson, granted to
their fathers in the days of the Dutch West India Com-
pany, were rented out to tenant-farmers, over whom they
ruled in princely fashion, dispensing justice, and bounti-
fully feasting the tenants on semi-annual rent-days. Some
of these estates were entitled to representatives in the
assembly, and the lords of the manor practically held
such appointments in their keeping. There was an im-
passable gulf between the rural aristocrats and the small
224 Middle Colonies, [Ch. x.
freeholders and tradesmen. This condition of affairs
was not calculated to encourage settlement; and out of
these feudal privileges, often harshly exercised, there
arose conflicts which became riotous as the Revolution
approached.
The aristocrats of Pennsylvania and Delaware were
also the wealthy landed gentry, chiefly Penn's followers;
. . , but the class was not strongly marked, and
Aristocracy ° -' '
among the almost imperceptibly faded away into the
vjua ers. j-^nks of the merchants and small freeholders.
Each village, however, had its Quaker " squire " or magis-
trate, in powdered wig, broad ruffles, cocked hat, and
gold-headed cane, who meted out justice at the neigh-
boring tavern and was highly regarded. Rich and poor
alike, among the Quakers, were simple in tastes and hab-
its. In New Jersey there was a mild recognition of the
social superiority of the gentlemen farmers, notwith-
standing a strong underlying spirit of democracy ; a rude
plenty prevailed, and the gentlemen's houses were not
without some degree of elegance.
94. Occupations.
The judicial system was very similar to that which
obtained elsewhere in America. In each province was
The profes- ^^ Upper court, consisting of a chief justice
sions. and associates, appointed by the governor;
from this an appeal might go in important cases to the
governor and council, and in causes involving ;^2oo or
over, to the king in council. Below the upper court
was a regular series of courts, ranging down to the local
justices of the peace. Justice was cheap, and court
practice simple. In New York, the quality of both
bench and bar was inferior, and remained so down to the
Revolution ; the judges had often no legal training, and
Ch, X.J Occupations, 225
the law was not recognized as a profession. In Dela-
ware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania men of ability and
character were engaged on the bench and at the bar,
and their calling won universal respect. Penn brought
out two physicians with him, and in the Quaker colonies
the art of medicine had from the first an honorable
standing; but in New York physicians were not licensed
until 1760. In all four colonies the clergymen for the
most part were zealous, upright men, of learning and
abihty, and took high social rank.
Except in New York, where trade was equally impor-
tant, agriculture was the chief industry ; but as the soil
. . u was fertile and the average farmer conse-
Agnculture *=
and manu- quently carclcss, farming was, except among
ac unn . ^^^ painstaking Quakers of Pennsylvania, in
a low condition. The principal crop was wheat, although
there was much variety in farm products, and New Jer-
sey raised large herds of cattle on her broad lowland
meadows. There were many small manufactures for
domestic use, the most important being among the
Germans of Germantown, who made, in a small way,
paper and glass, and also some varieties of knit goods
and coarse cloths; the spinning-wheel was a familiar
household machine, for homespun was much worn by all
except the rich. But the bulk of manufactured goods
was imported from England and the continent of Europe.
Little picturesque windmills, with broad canvas sails,
after the Dutch fashion, were numerous. Many of the
Maryland and Virginia colonists came long distances to
patronize the Pennsylvania mills. It was not until 1720
than an iron furnace was erected in the latter province,
— the first in the middle group of colonies.
The middle-colony people had a keen sense for trade.
The fur-traffic was widespread and of the first im-
portance, particularly in New York and Pennsylvania,:
226 Middle Colonies. [Ch. X.
while the personal danger to the adventurous forest
trader was very great, the profits on packs of peltries
Trade and Successfully landed in New York and Phila-^
commerce, delphia were such as to warrant the hazard.
The principal exports were grain, flour, and furs, and
vessels with these American products sailed to England,
Lisbon, Madeira, and the West Indies ; the exports of
goods were never equal to the imports, however, and
ships bringing over wines, sugar, and miscellaneous man-
ufactured articles often found it difficult to obtain return
cargoes. There was a profitable 'long-shore commerce
In farm products and small manufactures, boats pene-
trating up the rivers far inland. New England bottoms
were largely employed, although a shipbuilding industry
«oon sprang up at Philadelphia. New York was the
chief port of the middle colonies for foreign trade ; her
merchants were highly active and prosperous.
95. Social Life.
In 1700 the Dutch were still the largest landowners in
New York. The English and other nationalities, jealously
Life and exclu< .cd from the landed class as far as pos-
manners in siblc, werc to be mainly found in the large
towns in the southern portion of the province,
engaged in trade. The Dutch adhered to old dress and
customs with remarkable tenacity. Their farm-houses
were usually of wood, with the second story overhanging ;
the great rafters showed in the ceilings ; the fireplaces
were ornamented with pictured tiles, and above were rows
of great wooden and pewter dishes, and racks of long
tobacco-pipes ; the floors were daily scrubbed and sanded,
and evidences of neatness and thrift were distinguishing
features. In the little hamlets, as well as on the farms,
there was plenty of good plain living; but the people,
while thrifty, sober, contented, and industrious, were
Ch. X.] Social Life. 22/
superstitious, ignorant, grasping, and slow. Life with
them was narrow and monotonous. The wealthy landed
proprietors lived on their estates up the Hudson in sum-
mer, and moved to New York city in winter ; their manor-
houses were large and richly furnished, they had trains
of servants, black and white, and maintained a degree of
splendor scarcely equalled elsewhere in the colonies.
The Dutch women, rich and poor, were noted for their
excellence as housekeepers, their unaffected piety, and
their love of flowers.
In Pennsylvania and Delaware there was a wide dif-
ference between the condition of the dwellers in the long-
Eisewhere Settled portions, where there was intelligent
in the mid- progress, sobriety, and neatness, and that of
die colonies. ,, ^ u i i j ^
the western borderers, who were a rude, tur-
bulent people, living amid wretched economic and sani-
tary conditions. The better class of farmers in the
eastern section were prosperous but simple ; men and
women alike worked in the fields, and a patriarchal sys-
tem of family life prevailed. The soberly attired Quak-
ers still exercised a large influence on society, which was
pervaded by a healthy moral tone ; tradesmen had a par-
ticularly keen sense of business honesty. New Jersey
was also a well-to-do colony ; but her farms and vil-
lages long had the reputation of presenting an untidy
appearance.
Although life among the middle-colony folk was sober
and filled with toil, there were the customary rough and
Social in- simple popular diversions of the period,—
tercourse. for the farmers corn-huskings, spinning-bees,
house-raisings, and dancing-parties, at which hard drinking
was not infrequent ; for the townsfolk horse-racing, bull-
baiting, cock-fighting, tavern-parties, balls, and picnics.
The people were, as a whole, of a more social tempera-
ment than their New England neighbors. There was little
228 Middle Colonics, [Ch. x.
luxury within their reach, but they appear to have been as
a rule satisfied in their condition, and above want
The principal town was New York. Society there was
more gay than in Boston, and more fashionable than
in any other American city, except perhaps
Charleston. The wealthy landed proprietors
spent money freely during the winter season, and the
latest London styles were eagerly sought and followed.
A social polish was aimed at, clubs were fostered, and
pride was taken in the fact that no other American city
was so cosmopolitan in tone, — a result of its being the
centre of a far-reaching foreign trade. There was much
that was English in New York, yet even here the Dutch
influence was strong. Visitors speak of the wide, plea-
sant streets lined with trees, the low brick and stone
houses, with their projecting eaves and their gables to
the street, — a fashion general in the colonies, — and
the insignificant character of the few public buildings.
Albany was the centre of the northern fur-trade, and
purely Dutch in composition and architecture.
Philadelphia was the Quaker capital. Laid out like a
checker-board, with architecture of severe simplicity, its
best residences were surrounded by gardens and orchards.
The town was substantial, neat, and had the appearance
of prosperity. Germantown, near by, settled by the Ger-
mans (1683), was largely given over to small manufactures.
Newcastle was ill-built and unattractive. The New Jer-
sey towns were rather comely, but insignificant ; Trenton
was chiefly supported by travellers along the great high-
way between New York and Philadelphia,
There was little intercommunication, except between
the larger towns, and the facilities for travel were meagre.
Roads and Rude farm-wagons, two-wheeled chaises, and
travel. saddle-horses were the chief means of convey-
ance over the rough, stony roads •, and on the many and
Ch. X.] Town Life and Education, 229
far-reaching rivers, travellers and traders proceeded lei-
surely by slow-moving craft. New Jersey was traversed
by the highways between New York and Philadelphia,
over which post-boys rode weekly with the mail in saddle-
bags. Taverns were in every town in New York and
Pennsylvania, and were favorite meeting-places for the
village and country folk ; but in New Jersey it required
legislation to induce villages to maintain "ordinaries"
for wayfarers.
96. Intellectual and Moral Conditions.
Under the Dutch domination common schools flour-
ished in New York, each town supporting them by public
aid. The English, however, jealous of educa-
Education. . , . , , ^
tional enterprises under charge of a noncon-
forming church, suffered them to fall into neglect. Thus
at the close of the seventeenth century education was
neither general nor of good quality. The English Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel established an excel-
lent Church of England school in New York city (1704),
but the Dutch did not take kindly to it; they long clung
to their mother-tongue and the few rude schools of their
own ordering. In Pennsylvania but little attempt was
made by the English in the direction of popular educa-
tion outside of the capital, where was opened (1698) the
now famous Penn Charter School, destined for fifty years
to be the only public school in the province. The Ger-
mans and Moravians maintained some good private
schools in the larger Pennsylvania and New Jersey
towns, but educational facihties in the rural places were
generally wretched, where there were any at all.
The Church of England was nominally established in
all except Pennsylvania; but it was managed with great
lack of discretion, and aroused popular hostility against
it and the mother-country. On Long Island and in New
230 Middle Colofiies. [C«. x.
Jersey the Puritans exerted a powerful influence on
manners and thought. Everywhere the laws against ex-
. . cesses in amusement and Sabbath-breakine
Religion. 1 . 1 • 1 T^ •
were very severe, but only m the Puritan com-
munities were they strictly enforced, although a strong
sentiment of piety was general among all respectable
classes of the people. Except in New York, towards the
close of the seventeenth century there was toleration for
all Protestant sects, but in Pennsylvania alone were Ro-
man Catholics entitled to equal consideration ; the New
York laws against "Jesuits and Popish priests" were
harsh, and founded on the false notion that they incited
the Indians to acts of violence. In New York the
Church of England endeavored -for a time (commencing
in 1692), by violent persecution, to repress al' forms
of dissent ; but the sectaries flourished despite official
opposition. The leading denominations were the Dutch
Lutheran, Dutch Reformed, English Independent, and
English Presbyterian. The Scotch Presbyterians and
New England Congregationalists were most numerous in
New Jersey. In Pennsylvania and Delaware, next to the
Quakers stood the Lutherans and Scotch Presbyterians,
and the preachers of the latter church were vigorous
proselyters, especially successful among the western
borderers. The Germans, brought over, at first, largely
through Penn's efforts, included a number of persecuted
groups, — Quakers, Palatines, Ridge Llermits, Dunkards,
and Pietists. All Christian forms and creeds were lib-
erally represented in Pennsylvania, where there was as
genuine religious freedom as exists anywhere in the
United States to-day.
In none of the middle colonies was crime so prevalent
as to be a troublesome question, with ihe one exception of
piracy, — the most common and widely demoralizing of all
the dangers to which the colonists were subjected. Public
Ch. X.] Religion and Politics. 23 1
officials often corruptly connived at the practice, and
popular sentiment was not strongly against a set of men
Crime and who brought wealth to the seaport towns
pauperism, ^^d spent it lavishly. Hangings and whip-
pings were not infrequent public spectacles in the colo-
nies, and the pillory was much in use. In the Long
Island towns the New Englanders, who were dominant
there, faithfully reproduced their native customs in the
punishment of crime as in most other particulars. The
Quakers were, on the whole, the most lenient in their
treatment of evil-doers, up to 1718, when the second gen-
eration of colonists abandoned the old theory of criminal
legislation and adopted measures of harsh repression
similar to those in vogue in other colonies. There was
little pauperism, but perhaps more in Pennsylvania than
elsewhere. In the treatment of this evil the Quakers
were also wise, and in Philadelphia they established the
first hospital for the insane, on the continent.
97. Political Conditions and Conclusion.
New Jersey having no foreign trade and but little
manufacturing, her people were without experience of the
Political harshness of the English Acts of Navigation
spirit in the and Trade (page 104). Since there was not
jerseys, i-^uch to complain of regarding treatment by
the mother-country, they were generally loyal. Taxes
were light, public salaries small, and the colony, with
Pennsylvania and New York as buffers, was in no danger
from Indians.
On the other hand. New York was constantly subjected
to border warfare, which proved a serious nnancial bur-
in New den; taxation, levied by duties v/n slaves and
York, imports, and on real and personal property,
was clumsy and oppressive, and the government corrupt
and expensive. English officials and wealthy Dutch
232 Middle Colonics, [Ch. X.
merchants were loyal because it was their interest to be
so; but the mass of the people, rich and poor, favored
liberal candidates to the assembly. The men from New
England exerted a strong influence on the general trend
of poHtical thought. Elections excited great bitterness
and often rioting, and they were made an excuse for the
usual holiday excesses. There was a strong feeling of
resentment against the home government, growing out of
the Navigation Laws and the impressment of seamen.
In Pennsylvania there prevailed a similar attitude of
opposition to England ; the Quakers were, however, con-
andinPenn- servative, and slow in action, and their dislike
sylvania. ^q ^g^r amis made the colony a drag upon
all attempts at continental union for common defence.
As in New York, local poHtics ran in extremely narrow
channels, and election riots were not uncommon.
Taking a general view of the middle colonies, we find
that the fur-trafflc, the fertile soil, a mixed system of
agriculture, and an enterprisino^ commercial
Summary. . . 1 i • r r 1 • • 1
spirit, were the chiei sources of their material
prosperity. There was prevalent a broader spirit of re-
ligious toleration ; there was, perhaps, on the whole, a
more democratic spirit among all classes of the people,
than in New England or the South ; except in the case of
the Dutch patroons, aristocracy did not flourish among
them ; the state of popular education was pitiable ; the
population was more mixed than anywhere else in Am-
erica. The continental nationalities gave a more cheerful
tone to societv than existed in New England and the
South ; the several communities varied greatly in speech,
customs, and thought, according to their origin, although
we find, as the eighteenth century opens, that the Enghsh
Puritans from New England were coming more and more
to exercise a considerable influence in political, social,
and religious affairs.
Ch. XI.] Bibliography of Outlying Colonies. 233
CHAPTER XI.
OTHER ENGLISH NORTH AMERICAN COLONIES
(1605-1750).
98. References.
Bibliographies. — Larned, Literature of American History^
430-438, ^58-462; Winsor, Vlll. 65-80, 175-177, 188-190, 270-
291,
Historical Maps. — Nos. 2, 3, and 4, this volume {Epoch
Maps, Nos. 2, 3, 4); Winsor, MacCoun, and school histories al-
ready cited.
General Accounts. — H. Fox-Bourne, Story of our Colonies,
chs. i.-xi.; Egerton, British Colonial Policy; Morris, History of
Colonization; E. Payne, European Colonies; Cotton and Payne,
Colonies and Dependencies.
Special Histories. — West Indies : Lucas, Historical Geog-
raphy, II., sees, i., ii.; C. Eden, West Indies; J. Froude, English
in West Indies (answered by J. Thomas, Eroudacity); A. Kennedy,
Story of West Indies ; J. Rodway, West Indies and Spanish Main;
J. Lefroy, Discovery and Early Settlement of Bermudas ; J. Esque-
meling, Buccaneers of America (and similar books by Archenholtz,
Burney, and Pyle); J. Masefield, On the Spanish Main. — New-
foundland; D. Prowse, Newfoundland; also histories of the island
by Hatton and Harvey, Smith, and Pedley; S. Dawson, Canada
and Newfoundland ; W. Greswell, Geography of Canada and New-
foundland. — Nova Scotia: J. Bourinot, Builders of Nova Scotia;
T. Hahburton, Nova Scotia; B. Murdoch, Nova Scotia; E.
Richard, Acadia. — Canada: see § 107. — Hudson's Bay Com-
pany: G. Bryce, Remarkable History of Hudson's Bay Company;
L. Burpee, Search for the Western Sea; A. Laut, Conquest of Great
Northwest; B. Willson, Great Company. Consult also pul lica-
234 Outlying Colonies, [Ch. xi.
tions of Royal Society of Canada, and provincial historical and
antiquarian societies.
Contemporary Accounts. — Whitbourne, Discourse and Dis-
covery of Newfoundland (1620) ; Mason, Brief Discourse of Ne-w-
foundland (1620) ; Du Tertre, Hisioire Generale des Antilles (1654) ;
Denys, Description and Natural History of Arcadia (1672); Labat,
Nouveau Voyage aux Isles d'Amerique (1724); Oldmixon, British
J'lmpire in America (1741); Dobbs, Countries adjoining to Hud-
so)i's Bay (1744); Ellis, Voyage to Hudson Bay (1748); Haklujt,
Voyages. Reprints in publications of historical and antiquarian
societies.
99. Outlying English Colonies.
It is usual to think and speak of the English colcy.
nies in North America as though they included only the
Differences thirteen v/hich, in 1775, revolted against the
between the mother-country. In the eyes of the home
thirteen
colonies and government, however, and of the colonists
nelKhbo?s'to themselvcs, the relations between the mother-
the south land and the English West India Islands, the
Bermudas, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Hud-
son's Bay, and, after 1 763, Canada, were much the same
as between it and Virginia or New Hampshire or Penn-
sylvania. The chief differences between the colonies
were of race and occupation. Nova Scotia had, before
the Revolution, but a few thousand English inhabitants;
the West Indies were almost exclusively sugar-producing
colonies. Both on the north and on the southeast the
English colonies touched elbows with the French in ac-
tive commercial and territorial competition. The West
Indies were the emporium for sugar and slaves, and an
extensive traffic was had in both commodities with the
continental colonies. This important commerce has al-
ready been frequently referred to, particularly in the
treatment of New England (page 185), whose vessels
did the bulk of the colonial carrying trade.
11
I
Ch. XI.] Relations with the Thirteen, 235
Various causes conspired to prevent Englishmen in
[these outlying plantations from joining their brethren of
Wh those New England, the middle colonies, and the
j neighbors South, in the movement for independence,
i volt'against The West India planters were largely aided
England. y^y English capital, and in England, where
,many of them had summer residences, they enjoyed a
jprofitable and exclusive market for sugar, cotton, and
other tropical products. It was considered good policy
iby English statesmen to favor the island colonies as
[against the continental, for the products of the former
did not compete with those of Great Britain ; so that while
the Navigation Acts (page 104), restricting all colonial
trade to British ports, at first bore heavily on the island
planters, they were compensated in part by numerous
discriminations in their favor. Many of these planters
were the sons of Cavaliers who had fled to the islands
of the Caribbean Sea to escape from the rule of the Com-
monwealth ; or wealthy men who had, in times of popular
disturbance, been made to feel uncomfortable in their
old homes on the American mainland. In Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland the ports were filled with English
, traders and officers ; and a great belt of untraversed forest
separated them from the New Englanders, with whom
they had little in common. But perhaps above all was
Ithe fact that His Majesty's fleet easily commanded these
outlying colonies, and revolt was not to be thought of
within the reach of the guns of ships.
It is worth our while briefly to review the history
of these British American dependencies which for one
reason or another did not enter the struggle that was
isoon to rend the empire in twain at the moment it had
reached its greatest extent
236 Outlying Colonies. [Ch. XI.
100. "Windward and Leeward Islands (1605-1814).
Barbados^ the easternmost of the Windward Islands,
was first visited by a party of English adventurers in
Settlement 1605, since which time it has been an English
of Barbados, possession. But it was not until 1625 that a
colony was planted on the island. Its plan of government
was much the same as that of the mainland colonies.
During the Puritan uprising in England, Barbados was
a place of refuge for loyalists, who were disposed, till the
Refuge for appearance of a parliamentary force (165 1), to
loyalists. j^old the island for the king. Under Cromwell's
rule many prisoners of war were sent to the island, thus
increasing the royalist population. The Restoration was
promptly proclaimed.
The colony made rapid progress, although now and
then checked by the fact that its exposed position made
it in time of war a favorite point of attack by
Warfare.
enemies of England. The numerous harbors
along the coast were, in such troublous periods, infested
by privateers, who seriously interfered with the com-
merce of the island. In the war between Great Britain
and France, commencing in 1756, the West Indies was
the theatre of a prolonged conflict, into which the Barba-
dians entered with zeal, supplying money and troops to
the English sicie, and oftentimes suffering from reverses.
Before the Navigation Acts (page 104), by which Eng-
land sought to compel all her colonists to trade with
her alone, the Dutch were good customers for
Barbados sugar ; after that, English merchants
having a monopoly of the traffic, the planters had much
reason to complain. Nevertheless, the majority were
stanch Tories, and remained so throughout the Revolu-
tionary war. Many Barbadians settled from time to time
upon the mainland, particularly in the Carolinas. We
Ch. XI.] Windward and Leeward. 237
have seen that Sir John Yeamans, a Barbados planter,
led several hundred of his fellow-islanders thither (1664),
and founded a town on Cape Fear river (page 89).
St. Vincent^ a hundred miles west of Barbados, al-
though discovered by Columbus in 1498 was unclaimed
until 1627, when it was granted to the Earl of
St. Vincent, (^^^jj^jg ^^ Charles I., along with others of the
Windward group. In 1722, the Duke of Montagu came
into possession of it ; and then immigrants were intro-
duced, who exported sugar, rum, molasses, and arrowroot.
St. Lucia was settled by the English in 1639; ^^^ own-
ership was long passed back and forth by France and
Other w^ind- England, but in 1794 the latter secured per-
ward islands, nianent posscssiou. The English flag was
raised over Tobago in 1580, but the island was alternately
held by English and Dutch until 1814, since which date
the proprietorship of the former has been undisputed.
Grenada and llie Grenadities, colonized by the P'rench,
first came into English possession under the treaty of
1763. 'rri7iidaii\ the southernmost of the chain of islands
and one of the most valuable, was occupied by the Span-
ish until 1 797, when it was yielded up to Great Britain,
under show of force ; to-day it is one of the most pro-
Igressive of the smaller English dependencies.
Upon the Leeward, or northern, islands of the Carib-
bean group are the colonies of Antigua, Montserrat,
Early set- ^t. Christopher (St. Kitts), Nevis, Dominica,
tiement. ^nd the Virgin Islands. A?itigua, the seat of
the present colonial government, is the most import-
ant. English families settled there in 1632, and again
in 1663. Ravaged by France three years later (1666),
it was soon after restored to the Enghsh under the
Changes in treaty of Breda. Montserrat^ the healthiest
ownership, island in the West Indies, was also colo-
nized by the English in 1632, and remained in their
238 Outlying Colonies. [Ch. XL
possession except for two brief terms (1664-1668 and
1 782-1 784), when the French were in control. St
Christopher and Nevis form a united English colony
which traces its history back to 1628. Dutch bucca-
neers intrenched themselves on the rocky islets of the
Virgin group as early as 1648, but were driven out by
English pirates in 1666, since which date the archipelago
has been the property of Great Britain; a better class of
settlers came in with the eighteenth century. Do7ni7iica^
the largest of the Leeward Isles, was included in Car-
lisle's patent (1627); but the French were already in
possession, living on friendly terms with the native
Caribs, just as their compatriots in New P>ance were
with the more warlike Algonkins. Ceded by France to
England in 1763, Dominica was several times recaptured,
and not finally relinquished to the latter until 18 14.
101. Bermudas (1609-1750) and Bahamas (1522-1783).
The fertile Bermudas, or Somers's Islands, — "still
vex'd Bermoothes " of Shakespeare, — lie about six
Early set- hundred miles east of South Carolina. They
tlement. bear the names of two navigators who were
cast away upon them, — Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard
(1522), and an Englishman, Sir George Somers (1609);
the latter being on his way to Virginia to administer the
affairs of that colony. Somers founded the first settle-
ment.
Under the third patent to the Virginia Company in \^\2\
(page 72), the Bermudas and all islands within three hun-
dred leagues of the Virginia shore were ceded to
In the pOS- , '^ . -r- xt r> • l
session of that corporation. Except Nova Scotia, there-
Virginia. {qx^^ the Bermudas are the only present English
colony which ever formed an integral part of any of the
present States or Territories of the United States. The
Virginia Company afterwards (161 6) parted with its
Ch. XL] Bermudas a72d Bahamas. 239
right to the Bermuda Company, which carried thither a
considerable company of Virginians. During the Com*
monwealth, the Bermudas, like Barbados, were a refuge
for royalists from England. Representative government,
similar to that of the mainland colonies, was established
in 1620, and has been ever since maintained. Tobacco
was the staple of the colony until about 1707, when a salt-
making industry sprang up and soon became the chief
interest.
The Bermudas were from the earliest times recognized
as an important marine station. During the Revolu-
Strategic tionary war Washington wrote : " Let us annex
importance, t^g Bermudas, and thus possess a nest of hor-
nets to annoy the British trade." But the place was
undisturbed, and remained loyal to the king.
The first American soil trod by Columbus was an
island in the fruitful Bahama group. " This country,"
he wrote, " excels all others as far as the day
The land- , ... i i ,, rr-i .
fall of Co- surpasses the night in splendor. The natives
lumbus. were numerous ; " their conversation is the
sweetest imaginable; their faces always smiling; and so
gentle and so affectionate are they that I swear to your
highness there is not a better people in the world." Yet
(commencing in 1509) the Spaniards almost depopulated
the islands ; forty thousand of these innocent aborigines
were carried away to a wretched death in the mines of
Cuba.
In 1629, an English colony was planted on New Provi-
dence, in the then deserted archipelago. But the French
Spanish and ^^*^ Spanish persisted in harrying the settlement,
French op- which was frequently the scene of stormy con-
position to ^. . , , ,. ,
English set- nicts. At last, in 1718, the English government
tlement. drove out the pirates who had come to resort
there in great numbers, resettled the islands, and an era
of progress opened.
240 Outlyi?ig Colo7iies. [Ch. XLi
During the Revolutionary war many wealthy Tories
went from the continental colonies to the Bahamas and
opened up large plantations, with slave labor,
capture the The colony was captured by the Americans
colony. (1776), — the only conquest of British territory
during the Revolution, except the Canadian campaign of
1775 and the occupation of the Northwest by Virginia
troops in 1778. The Spanish took it in 1782, but it was
soon retaken by the English (1783). Three quarters of
a century later the islands became famous as the point of
departure for blockade-runners bound into Confederate
ports.
102. Jamaica (1655-1750>.
Jamaica was under Spanish control until 1655, when
an English fleet under Admirals Penn and Venables —
England *^^^ former, father of the founder of Pennsyl
captures the vania — Compelled the surrender of the island
to the Commonwealth. The opposition of the
Spanish planters and their negro slaves — the latter
were called Maroons — long made English government
difficult ; the Spaniards were finally driven off, but the
Maroons, fleeing to the mountains, were troublesome
until the close of the eighteenth century. Much annoy-
ance was also suffered in the seventeenth century from
the buccaneers, who infested the Jamaica coast and
preyed indiscriminately on all West Indian commerce;
they were suppressed with great difficulty. In 1728,
English laws and statutes became applicable to the
island.
Like other islands in the West Indies, Jamaica was
resorted to by many Tory planters from the continental
The Tory colonies, and apparently had no sympathy
element. ^\\S\ the Struggle of the latter for independ"
ence. It was a colony having a large slave popula-
tion, and after the separation of the continental colonies
Cii. XL] Honduras^ Newfoitndland. 241
became, to some degree, a competitor with them. The
abohtion of slavery in the island (1830-1837) had a great
influence on the slavery conflict in the United States.
103. British Honduras (1600-1798).
Belize, or British Honduras, on the eastern shore of
the Yucatan peninsula, was not occupied by English-
Lawless men until after the suppression of freebooting
Kii'iish set- ^^ ^'"'^ Spanish main, — about the opening of
dLis. the eighteenth century. At that time parties
of English dyewood and mahogany cutters, many of
whom had been pirates, established themselves at Belize.
Their holdings were frequently beset by rival Spanish
logging companies, but in 1798 the latter were expelled.
Since that day Belize has existed as a prosperous
Entrlish Crown colony, although England's legal right
ritriits ques. to the country is still questioned by some
authorities, and in 1846 this fact gave rise to
serious diplomatic difficulties with the United States.
104. Newfoundland (1497-1783).
Newfoundland is the oldest of the colonial possessions
of Great Britain. We have seen (page 25) that John
Early settle- Cabot discovered it in 1497, that Cortereal
ments. Yv^as there for the Portuguese in 1500, and
that by 1504 fishermen from Normandy, Brittany, and
the Basque provinces were regularly engaged on its
shores. It was the nucleus for both French and Eng-
lish occupation of the mainland, and from the first an
important fishery station.
Not until 1583 did the English take formal possession,
and it was much later before anv of their numerous colo
nizing scnemes atramcn any grear measure or success.
By the treaty of Utrecht (1713) Newfoundland was
16
242 Outlymg Colonies, FCh. XL
acknowledged as English territory, but the French were
given fishing privileges on the western and northern
Growth of coasts. This led to diplomatic contentions,
the colony, ^ot yet ended ; nevertheless settlement at once
increased, and a satisfactory growth has since been main-
tained. In 1728, a form of civil government was for the
first time established.
During the American Revolution Newfoundland had
sufficient inducement to remain loyal ; since French and
Loyalty to American competitors in the fisheries were kept
England. out by British fleets, her merchants had a
monopoly of the European markets, and were enabled
to maintain high prices.
105. Nova Scotia, Acadia (1497-1755).
First visited by the Cabots in 1497, it was not until
1604 that European colonization was attempted in Nova
French and ^cotia, under the Frenchman De Monts (page
English ri- 35). In 1613, the Virginia privateer, Argall,
vslrv *
basing his excuse on Cabot's previous discov-
ery, swooped down on the French settlements, demolished
the cabins, and expelled the inhabitants. A grant of the
peninsula — called Acadia by the French, but in this
document styled Nova Scotia by the king — was made by
James I. to Sir William Alexander; the latter was, how-
ever, prevented by the French (1623) from carrying out
his colonizing scheme. Nevertheless, several English-
men and Scotchmen came into the country and mingled
with the French, who were slowly re-populating it.
Recaptured by an English force in 1654, Nova Scotia
was, thirteen years later (1667), ceded to France. But
New Eng- the easc of communication by water made the
turesThe colony an uncomfortably close neighbor for
country the English colonies farther south. In 1710
the Massachusetts men captured Port Royal; and in
Ch. XI.] Acadia y Htidso7i^s Bay Company. 243
1713 France relinquished possession to England by the
treaty of Utrecht. Again in 1745, Massachusetts volun-
teers captured Louisbourg on Cape Breton (§§ iii, 112).
England paid little attention to Nova Scotia until 1749,
when four thousand emigrants were sent over to found
Tx , »• Halifax. The French settlers, known as Aca-
JJeportation ^ '
oftheAca- dians, had meanwhile become numerous, and
greatly abused their privileges as neutrals by
fostering and joining Indian war-parties against the New
England settlers. In 1755, ^^^ Acadians were easily
reduced by General Monkton, and seven thousand trans-
ported to the British provinces southward, many of them
finally drifting to the French settlement at the mouth of
the Mississippi.
A colonial constitution of the regulation English pat-
tern was granted to Nova Scotia in 1758, and France
An asylum formally released her claim by the treaty of
for Tories. 1 763. At the samc time Cape Breton, which
had been a second time captured (1758), was added. The
Englishmen in Nova Scotia were largely of the official
and trading class, having little in common with their
neighbors of the more southern colonies. In the Revolu-
tion several thousand loyalist refugees found an asylum
in the peninsula.
For the remaining French colony, Canada, special
treatment will be necessary.
106. Hudson's Bay Company.
The Hudson's Bay Company, from the time it was char-
tered by Charles II. (1670) until its lands were sold to
Similarity to the British Government (1869), was a joint-
the Massa- gtock associatiou, with exclusive commercial
cluisetts Bay ^ ^ '
Company. and political privileges, very similar to the
Company of Massachusetts Bay. To-day it trades as a
private corporation ; its former territory — the lands drain
244 Outlyi?ig Colo7iies, [Ch. xi
ing into Hudson's Bay — is now open to all on equal
terms.
Fur-trade factories, protected by strong forts, were
early planted by the company at the mouths of several
French op- sub-arctic rivers, such as the Rupert, Moore,
position. Albany, Nelson, and Churchill, the only in-
habitants being the small garrisons and the company's
trading servants. Several expeditions were successively
made to Hudson's Bay by French war vessels; much de-
vastation was wrought and blood spilled, until in 1697 the
treaty of Ryswick put an end to the trouble, and left the
company in undisputed possession. It had lost more than
;^2oo,ooo in this predatory warfare, but soon regained its
position, through the profits of the fur-trade.
After the fall of New France (1763), the Hudson's Bay
Company met formidable rivals in the enterprising North-
American west and American organizations ; the story of
rivals. the fierce competition which ensued, with its
effect on American settlement and international bound-
aries, belongs to the period covered by other volumes
of this series.
From the foregoing sketch it will be seen that for all
the American colonies to the south of Georgia the Eng-
lish were obliged to fight a changeful battle
with the Spaniards and the French. It was
not till after the Revolutionary war that the permanent
ownership of the islands was assured to Great Britain.
A similar struggle, though briefer and sooner concluded,
went on for the possession of the colonies north of Maine.
But twelve years before the Revolution the last of them
had been yielded to the British. In Nova Scotia, and
later in Canada, English residents were not numerous till
the beginning of the nineteenth century. In Newfound-
land and Hudson's Bay, in colonial times, the settlers
were English, but in numbers they were few.
Cii. XI I.J BibliograpJiy of New France, 245
CHAPTER XII.
THE COLONIZATION OF NEW FRANCE (1608-
1750).
107. References.
Bibliographies. — Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, LXXI. C19-365,
and France in America, ch. xix.; H. Biggar, Early Trading Com-
panies, 171-296; Larned, Literature of American History, 395-
421; Avery, II. 403-408, III. 436, 437; P. Gagnon, Essai de bibli-
ographie canadiennc ; H. Harrisse, Notes pour scrvir a I'histoire
du Canada. Consult also Wrong and Langton, Review of His-
torical Publications relating to Canada (puljlishcd annually).
Historical Maps. — No. 4, this volume (Epoch Maps, No. 4);
also maps in Parkinan, Thwaites, Winsor, and MacCoun.
General Accounts. — Lucas, Historical Geography, V. The
standard Englisli history of Canada is by W. Kingsford. The prin-
cipal French historians are M. Faillon, J. Ferland, F. Garnier
(English translation by Bell), and B. Suite. The prime authority
for New France is Parkman's series (12 vols., condensed into one
by P. Edgar, 1902), France and England in North America.
Briefer and more recent treatment of New France will be found
in works by Bourinot, Douglas, Greswcll, Laut, Roberts, Thwaites,
and Tracy.
Special Histories. — Winsor, Car tier to Frontenac, and Mis-
sissippi Basin; Biggar, as above; Doughty and Dionne, Quebec
under Two Flags; G. Parker, Old Qziebec; Laut, Pathfinders of
the West; F. Ogg, Opening of the Mississippi; C. Moore, North-
west under Two Flags; W. Munro, Seignorial System in Canada;
Bourinot, Local Government in Canada. — French and Indian War :
Parkman, Montcalm and Wolfe; A. Bradley, Fight with France for
North America; W. Wood, Fight for Canada; A. Doughty, Siege
of Quebec. — French in Northwest : Hinsdale, Old Northwest, chs.
iii.-v.; Thwaites, Wisconsin (Commonwealths). — Manners and
customs: C. Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Regime (1608-
1698); Dunn's Indiana (Commonwealths), chs. ii., iii. for the
Northwest; M. Pepper, Maids and Matrons of New France;
Machar and Marquis, Stories of New France. See also biographies
of prominent men.
246 French Colonies. [Ch. xil. ,
Contemporary Accounts. — For detailed list, consult
Thwaites, France in America^ 298-303. Numerous publications
of Canadian and American historical and antiquarian societies
(especially the Champlain Society) contain useful material. Rela-
tive to the Northwest, see Wisconsin Historical Collections^ XVI-
XVIII.
108. Settlement of Canada (1608-1629).
The story of early French efforts at colonization in
North America, from Cartier's visit (1534) to Champlain's
foundation of Quebec (1608), the first permanent French
colony in Canada, has already been told (Chapter II.).
It was unfortunate for New France that Champlain
incurred at the outset the hostility of the Iroquois (page
196) ; the French and the Algonquians with
Iroquois whom they maintained friendly relations were
opposition, j^^g ^^^^j. g^j.gjy afflicted by them. Had it not
been for the Iroquois wall interposed between Champlain
and the South, the French would doubtless have preceded
the English upon the Atlantic plain. The presence of this
opposition led the founder of New France, in his attempts
to extend the sphere of French influence, to explore along
the line of least resistance, to the north and west.
In 161 1, Montreal was planted at the first rapids in the
St. Lawrence, and near the mouths of the Ottawa and
Champlain Richelieu. Four years later (161 5), Cham-
on Lake plain reached Lake Huron by the way of the
Hiirnn
Ottawa. There were easier highways to the
Northwest, but the French were compelled for many
years thereafter to take this path, because of its greater
security from the all-devouring Iroquois.
To extend the sphere of French influence and the
Catholic religion, as well as to induce the savages to
patronize French commerce, were objects which inspired
both lay and clerical followers of Champlain. Their
1608-1659] Canada Settled. 247
wonderful zeal illumined the hittory of New France with
a poetic glamour such as is cast over no other part
Explorers ^^ America north of Mexico. Under Cham-
?ndcoureur$ plain's guidance and inspired by his example,
traders and priests soon penetrated to the far
west, — the former bent on trafficking for peltries, and the
latter on saving souls. Another large class of rovers,
styled coureurs de bois^ or wood-rangers, wandered far and
wide, visiting and fraternizing with remote tribes of In-
dians ; they were attracted by the love of lawless adven-
ture, and conducted an extensive but illicit fur-trade.
Many of these explorers left no record of their journeys,
hence \< is now impossible to say who first made some of
the most important geographical discoveries.
109. Exploration of the Northwest (1629-1699).
We know that by 1629, the year before the planting of
the Massachusetts Bay colony, Champlain saw an ingot
Early dis- of coppcr obtained by barter with Indians
the North- f^om the shores of Lake Superior. In 1634,
west Jean Nicolet, another emissary from Champlain,
penetrated to central Wisconsin, by way of the Fox River,
and thence went overland to the Illinois country, making
trading agreements with the savage tribes along his path.
Seven years afterwards (1641), Jesuit priests said mass
before two thousand naked savages at Sault Ste. Marie.
In the winter of 1 658-1 659, two French fur-traders,
Radisson and Grosseilliers, imbued with a desire "to
travell and see countreys" and *' to be knowne with the
remotest people," visited Wisconsin, probably saw the
Mississippi, and built a log fort on Chequamegon Bay
of Lake Superior. During 1662 they discovered James's
Bay to the far northeast, and became impressed with the
fur-trading capabilities of the Hudson's Bay region. Not
receiving French support in their enterprise, they sole?
24? French Colo7iies. [Ch. XII.
their semces to England. On the strength of their dis-
coveries, the Hudson's Bay Company was organized
(1670). Saint-Lusson took formal possession of the
Northwest for the French king, at Sault Ste. Marie,
in 1671. Two years later (1673), Joliet and Marquette
made their now famous trip over the Fox-Wisconsin
waterway and re-discovered the Mississippi.
Champlain died at Quebec in 1635, having extended
the trade and domination of France westward to Wiscon-
sin, by the Ottawa hisrhway. It remained for
La Sa.lle. o /
the fur-trader, La Salle, one of the most bril-
liant of American explorers, to add the Mississippi valley to
French territory (i 679-1 682), his route being up the Great
Lakes and via the Chicago-Illinois portage. It was 1699
before a French settlement was planted in Louisiana (Old
Biloxi), and 1718 before New Orleans was founded.
The central geographical fact to be remembered in con-
nection with the history of New France is, that the St.
Lawrence and the chain of Great Lakes which serve as
its feeders furnish a natural highway to the heart of the
continent (page 4).
It has been shown that the hostility of the Iroquois
forced the French, in their earliest explorations west-
Early explo- ward, to take the northern, or indirect, route of
the Grea" *^^ Ottawa Rivcr, and caused Huron to be
Lakes. the first great lake discovered ; Ontario, Supe-
rior, and Michigan being next unveiled, in the order
named. Erie, the last to be seen by whites, was known
as early as 1640, but owing to Iroquois warriors blocking
the way, was not navigated until 1669, except by coureurs
de bois seeking the New York fur-markets. Thus French-
men were familiar with the sites of Sault Ste. Marie,
Mackinav/, Ashland, Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, and
Chicago before they had visited the site of Detroit
(1669). But that place came to be recognized after its
1662-1701.] Social and Political. 249
settlement (1701) as the most important strategic point
in the western possessions of New France.
The difference between the character of the English
and French colonies in North America was great. Eng-
Differences lishmen wcrc content to sow and reap in a
between plodding fashion, extending their territorial
English bounds no faster than their settlements needed
colonists. room for growth. Their acquaintance with
the Indians did not, with the exception of the New York
and Southern fur-traders, extend beyond the tribes which
touched their borders. They were possessed of remark-
able vitality and a strong sense of political and com-
mercial independence.
110. Social and Political Conditions.
The rigor ©f the Canadian winter, the shortness of the
summer season, and persistent annoyance from the Iro-
, quois, who at times had carried their warfare
Coureur de ^
bois versus to the vcry walls of the settlements, combined
to make the lot of the French farmer on the
St. Lawrence far from prosperous. During many of its
early years. New France largely depended for food upon
supplies brought out from the mother-country. The fur-
trader experienced but little more personal danger than
the agriculturist who remained upon his narrow farm-
hold abutting on the St. Lawrence ; while the fascination
of the unbridled life of adventure led by the former, free
from the restraints of church and society, was such as
strongly appealed to young men of spirit. The trade of
New France was farmed out to commercial companies
and to favorites of the king and his autocratic colonial
governors. Unlicensed traffic, such as was carried on
by the coureurs de bois, was looked upon as akin to
smuggling, and harsh laws were promulgated against
it. Nevertheless the forests,, far into the continental
250 French Colonies, [Ch. XII.
interior, were penetrated by gay adventurers conducting
illicit barter with the red barbarians, while the agricul-
ture of the colony languished. The river-systems of the
English coast colonies did not easily conduct to the
interior, but the far-reaching waterways of New France
were a continual invitation.
Iroquois interests were bound up with the Dutch, and
after them with the English. The better to improve their
. own position and to keep up prices, the Iro-
treatment of quois sought to prevent Algonquians of the
the Indians, ^pp^j. j^j^gg f^^^ trading with the Canadians.
But French influence in the Northwest was neverthe-
less strong. Colonial officials cajoled the Indians and
plied them with presents ; while the wandering traders
and their employees dwelt in comparative harmony with
the red men, were adopted into many of the tribes, and
married squaws, who reared in the forest villages an
extensive half-breed progeny.
The disposition of the French Crown to interfere with
the fur-trade and to repress all commercial initiative not
. emanating from privileged circles, was but an
policy of evidence of its general colonial policy. The
""*^*' colony on the St. Lawrence was made con-
tinually to feel the hand of the king. In contrast to the
free town and county systems of the English, the people
of New France had no voice in their government or in
the appointment of their officials. Even in the most
trivial affairs they looked to the Crown for action.
The country was governed much like a province in
France. It was divided: (i) for judicial purposes, into
_,. , . districts, with a judge at the head of each,
The admin- 1 t a »
istrationof from whom there might be an appeal to the
^'*' ^ ^ • superior council. Within the districts were
(2) seigniories, or great estates. The seignior held his
land immediately from the king, and parcelled it out
Ch. XII.] Social and Political, 251
among his vassals, the habitants^ or cultivators, who paid
him a small rent, patronized his shops and mills, and
owed him certain feudal obligations. Upon the estates
were (3) parishes, in which the curd and the captain of
militia were the chief personages. The only public
duties exercised by the habitants were in connection
with parish affairs, and then the initiative was taken at
Quebec, where resided the central authority, vested in
the governor, intendant, and council. In 1672, Frontenac
attempted to set up in Canada an assembly of the three
estates or orders ; but Colbert, the king's prime minister,
rebuked him, and gave directions for a gradual restriction
of all privileges of representation. " It seems better that
every one should speak for himself, and no one for all."
The people were not permitted to think or act for them-
selves, and they did not covet the privilege. Without
political training, they had no notion of what the English
call political rights.
Had King Louis XIV. been a wise monarch, paternal-
ism might not have been a disadvantage for a population
Causes of o^ this sort. But the royal patronage of colo-
weakness. ^\^\ enterprises was spasmodic, sometimes break-
ing out into extravagant aid, again remarkable for its
penuriousness. There were several in the long roll of
colonial governors who were men of commanding abil-
ity, and well fitted, under right conditions, to make of
New France a success, — notably Champlain (1622-1635),
Frontenac (1672-1682, and 1689-1698), and De Nonville
( 1 685-1 689). But the times and the material at hand
were against them. Official corruption ran riot. From
the monopolists, who were the present favorites of the
king, down to the military commander of the most distant
forest trading station, officials considered the public
treasury and the resources of the colony as a source of
individual profit. The priesthood held full sway ; little
252 French Colonies. [Ch. XII.
was done without the sanction of the hierarchy. The
missionaries of the faith won laurels for bravery, self-
denial, and hardihood, under the most adverse circum-
tances. But the policy of the Church was too exclusive
for the good of the colony. Huguenots, driven from
France by persecution, were forbidden by the bishops to
reside in Canada, and thus were compelled to contribute
their brain and brawn to the upbuilding of the rival Eng-
Hsh settlements. Of all Frenchmen, these were the best
adapted to the rearing of an industrial empire in the New
World.
111. Intercolonial Wars (1628-1697).
In Champlain's time, while France was busy in crush-
ing Protestant revolts at home, the settlements of Port
The struggle Royal and Qucbec, then wretched hamlets of a
between fg^ dozen huts cach, fell an easy prey to small
trench and ' j r j
English post- English naval forces (1628- 1629). For a few
^°"^ ' months France did not hold one foot of ground
in North America. But as peace had been declared be-
tween France and England before this conquest, the for-
mer received back all its possessions, including Acadia
(Nova Scotia) and the island of Cape Breton. The in-
evitable struggle for the mastery of the continent was
postponed, and Frenchmen held Canada for four genera-
tions longer. By the close of the seventeenth century,
men of New France were ranging at will over much of
the country beyond the mountains, with visions of empire
as extensive as the continent.
The French were not exploring and occupying the
western country unwatched. English colonial statesmen
English jeal- understood from the first the import of the
expansion of "lovement, and their alarm was frequently ex-
New France, pressed in communications to the home gov-
ernment. While Charles II. was a pensioner of Louis
XIV., the royal intendant in Canada expressed the situa-
1628-1690.] Intercolonial Wars. 253
tion clearly when he urged Louis (1666) to purchase New
York, " whereby he would have two entrances to Canada,
and by which he would give to the French all the peltries
of the north, of which the English share the profit by the
communication which they have with the Iroquois, by
Manhattan and Orange." In 1687, Governor Dongan of
New York warned the ministry at London : " If the
P'rench have all they pretend to have discovered in these
parts, the king of England will not have a hundred miles
from the sea anywhere."
With the accession of Protestant William and Mary
(1689), the Palatinate war broke out between England
Extent of ^^^ France, and at once spread to America,
French set- where it was styled King William's War. The
French had at that time colonies in the undefined
region of Acadia, on Cape Breton, and along the north bank
of the St. Lawrence as far up as Montreal. There were
a few small stockades scattered at long intervals through
the Illinois country, upon the banks of the upper Missis-
sippi, at Chequamegon Bay of Lake Superior, at Sault
Ste. Marie, on the St. Joseph's River, and elsewhere ; with
here and there a lonely Jesuit mission, and the movable
camps of conreurs de bois. Elsewhere, north and west of
the Atlantic plain, the grim solitude was broken only by
bands of red savages, who roved to and fro through the
dark woodlands, intent on war or the chase.
The population of New France, in this wide region,
was not, in 1690, more than twelve thousand, against one
hundred thousand in New England and New York. Had
it not been for the help of her Indian allies, the military
strength of many of her more important stations, and the
fighting qualities of her commanders, aided by division in
the councils of the English colonists. New France would
from the first have made a feeble defence against the over-
powering resources of her southern neighbors.
254 French Colonies. fCH. XIL]
King William's (or Frontenac's) War was costly to thel
colonists, and resulted in no material advantage to eitheri
King wil- side. The French, under Governor Frontenac,
Ham's War. conducted their operations with vigor. Three
winter expeditions, composed almost entirely of Indians,
were sent out (1690) against the English frontier line, fu-
riously attacking it at widely separated points, — New
York, New Hampshire, and Maine. In consequence of
the alarm created by these raids, the first colonial con-
gress was held at New York (1690). A fleet commanded
by Sir William Phipps (page 177), with eighteen hundred
New England militiamen on board, captured Acadia and
Port Royal that summer, but Acadia was retaken by the
French the following season. During the five ensuing
years fighting was confined to bushranging along the New
York and New England border. The struggle was with-
out further incident until Newfoundland yielded to the
French (1696), and a party of French and Indians sacked
the little village of Andover, Mass. (1697), but twenty-five
miles out of Boston. Later in the year came the treaty
of Ryswick, under which each belligerent recovered what
he possessed at the outset of the war.
112. Frontier Wars (1702-1748).
After the treaty of Ryswick (1697) there was peace
between England and France for five years. Then broke
O tbr ak ^^^ what is known in America as Queen Anne's
of Queen War (1702-1713), and in Europe as the War
Anne's War. r .» o • u o • t-u • •
of the Spanish Succession. The war origin-
ated in Europe; but one of England's objects in the
struggle was to prevent the French from obtaining too
firm a foot-hold in America. Much the same military
operations as in King William's War were undertaken
by both of the American opponents.
Three attempts were made by New England troops to
1690-1748] Expeditions against Canada. 255
recapture Acadia (1704, 1707, and 1710), the last being
successful. The peace of Utrecht (171 3) recognized
England's right to Acadia, " with its ancient boun-
daries," but it brought only nominal peace to the New
York and New England colonists. Unfortunately the
^ . northern and western boundaries of Acadia
Continua-
tion of bor- were not therein fixed, and the country be-
tween the Kennebec and the St. Lawrence
was in as much dispute as ever. Border settlers all along
the line from the Hudson to the Kennebec were in hourly
peril of their lives from Indian scalping-parties. There
was abundant proof that the authorities of New France,
instructed by the government at Paris, were actively in-
citing the red savages to forays for scalps and plunder.
This fact tended greatly to embitter the relations between
the rival white races, and led to measures of reprisal.
The irregular War of the Austrian Succession when
it extended to America was known as King George's
Kine War (i 744-1 748). The principal event was
George's the Capture (1744) by New England troops
turYof ^ of the strong fortress of Louisbourg, on the
Louisbourg. jgj^j^^ q£ (3^pg Breton. Having achieved so
heroic a victory almost single-handed. New Englanders
considered themselves slighted by the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle (1748), by which Louisbourg was surrendered
to France, and in other respects the unfortunate state
of affairs existing before the war was restored. Disap-
pointment was openly expressed, and tended still further
to strain the relations between the colonies and the
mother-land.
113. Territorial Claims.
An attempt had been made at the convention at Aix-
la-Chapelle to settle the boundary disputes in America
by referring the matter to a commission. France now
asserted her right to all countries drained by streams
256 French Colo7iies, [Ch. xn.
emptying into the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and
the Mississippi. This allowed, the narrow strip of the
Boundary Atlantic coast would alone have been left to
disputes. English domination. It was asserted on behalf
of Great Britain that the charters of her coast colonies
carried their western bounds to the Pacific ; further, that
as by the treaty of Utrecht France had acknowledged the
suzerainty of the British king over the Iroquois confed-
eracy, the English were entitled to all lands " conquered"
by those Indians, whose war-paths had extended from
the Ottawa River on the north to the Carolinas on the
south, and whose forays reached alike to the Mississippi
and to New England. For three years the commis-
sioners quarrelled at Paris over these conflicting claims ;
but the dispute was irreconcilable; the only arbitrament
possible was by the sword.
Meanwhile both sides were preparing to occupy and
hold the contested fields. New France already had a
The French "^^"^ chain of watcr-side forts and commercial
line of fron- stations, the rendezvous of priests, fur-traders,
travellers, and friendly Indians, extending,
with long intervening stretches of savage-haunted wil-
derness, through the heart of the continent, — chiefly on
the shores of the Great Lakes, and the banks of the prin-
cipal river highways, — from Lower Canada to her out-
lying post of New Orleans. Around each of these
frontier forts was a scattered farming community, the
holdings being narrow fields reaching far back into the
country from the water-front, with the neat log-cabins
of the habitants nestled in close neighborhood upon the
banks. In the summer the men, aided by their large
families, tilled the ribbon-like patches in a desultory
fashion, and in the winter assisted the fur-traders as
oarsmen and pack-carriers. Many were married to
squaws, and the younger portion of the population was
Ch. XII.] Conflict Inevitable. 257
to a large extent half-breed. They were a happy, con-
tented people, without ambition beyond the day's en-
joyment, combining with the light-heartedness of the
French the improvidence of the savage.
From 1700 on, the conflict seemed inevitable. The
French realized that they could not keep up connec-
The French ^^^^ between Ncvv Orleans and their settle-
covet the ments on the St. Lawrence if not permitted
Ohio. 1111 r 1 ^1 • >-.
to hold the valley of the Ohio. Governor
La Jonqui^re (i 749-1 752) understood the situation, and
pleaded for the shipment of ten thousand French peas-
ants to settle the region; but the government at Paris
was just then as indifferent to New France as was King
George to his colonies, and the settlers were not sent.
114. Effect of French Colonization.
Of the region in which were scattered the permanent
French settlements, the southern shore of the Great
Lakes and the Mississippi valley eventually became a
i part of the United States ; although these settlements
were few and small, the influence of French operations
in the West, on the development of the English colonies,
was far reachine:. New France will always
Charactens- , , /• i • i i i i
tics of New be renowned for the immense area held by
France. ^ Small European population. She was from
the first hampered by serious drawbacks, — centraliza-
tion, paternalism, official corruption, instability of system,
religious exclusiveness, the fascination of the fur-trade, a
'oadly Indian foe, and an inhospitable climate, — the sum
L which was in the end to destroy her (page 49). She
xpanded with mushroom growth, but was predestined to
(ollapse. Yet more than any other part of North America,
tlie French colonies in what is now Canada preserve the
language and the customs of the time of their settlement.
"7
258
Georgia, [Ch. XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA (1732-1755).
115. References.
Bibliographies. — Avery, III. 438-440; Winsor, V. 392-406;
Channing and Hart, Guide, § 103.
Historical Maps. — No. 4, this volume {Epoch Maps, No. 4),
MacCoun, and school histories already cited.
General Accounts. — Avery, III. ch. xxiv.; Doyle, Colonies^
V. ch. viii. ; G. Bancroft, II. 268-291 ; Greene, Provincial America,
ch. XV. ; Hildreth, II. 362-377; 'Lodge, Colonies, c\v. \x.\ Winsor,
V. ch. vi.; McCrady, South Carolina under Royal Government,
chs. xi., xii.; W. Wilson, American People, II. 62-68; histories of
Georgia by Jones, McCall, and Stevens. ,
Special Histories. — C. Jones, Dead Towns of Georgia; P. A. j
Strobel, Salzburgers ; J. MacLean, Scotch HigJtlanders in America^
ch. vi.; G. White, Historical Collections of Georgia; lives of j
Oglethorpe by Bruce, Cooper, Harris, and Wright. 1
Contemporary Accounts- — Oglethorpe, Account (1732);
Martyn, Reasons for Establishing Georgia (1733); Account Show-
ing Progress of Georgia (1741); Impartial Enquiry into State and
Utility of Province of Georgia (1741); Cadogan, Impartial Account
of Expedition against St. Augustine (1743); Moore, Voyage to
Georgia (1744); Egmont, Journal of Trustees for Establishing
Colony of Georgia; Candler, Colonial Records.
116. Settlement of Georgia (1732-1735).
The southern boundary of South Carolina was practi-
cally the Savannah River; but the English claimed as far
Unsettled south as the St. John's. Just below the St.
territory. John's, and one hundred and seventy miles
south of the Savannah, lay the old Spanish colony of
1565-1732-] Georgia Settled. 259
St. Augustine, founded (page 34; in 1565. The country
between the Savannah and the St. John's was a part of
the old Carolina claim ; but when the Carolinas became
royal provinces the king reserved this unsettled district
as crown lands.
James Oglethorpe had been an army officer ; he was a
member of parliament, and was prominent in various
Formation efforts at domestic reform, particularly in the
gia Com-""^' improvement of the condition of debtors' pris-
pany. ons. Stirred by the terrible revelations of his
inquiry, he engaged other wealthy and benevolent men
with him, and formed a company (1732) for the settle-
ment of the reserved Carolina tract, which was to be
styled Georgia, in honor of the king, George II. The
proposed colony was to serve the double purpose of
checking the threatened Spanish advance upon the south-
ern colonies in America, and of furnishing a home for
members of the debtor class, who would be given a
chance to retrieve their fortunes by a fresh start in life.
This scheme, half philanthropic and half military, had
also in view the extension of the English fur-traffic
among the Cherokees, whose trade was now being
eagerly sought by the Spanish on the south, and the
French on the west.
The company was given a charter under the name of
" The Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia
in America," its land-grant extendincr from
The charter. , „ , , f , , rr.,
the Savannah to the Altamaha. There were
twenty-one trustees, with full powers of management;
they were to appoint the governor and other officials
during the first four years, — after that the Crown was to
appoint. No member of the company was to hold any
salaried colonial office. Never was a colony founded
upon motives more disinterested. It was to be, literally,
"an asylum for the oppressed." The settlers themselves
26o Georgia. [Ch. XIII. j
were not given any political privileges, for it was thought
the trustees would be better managers than a class of
people who had not heretofore proved their capacity for
business affairs. Slavery was prohibited, because it would
interfere with free white labor, and a slave population
might prove dangerous in case of a frontier war with the
Spanish. That immigration might be encouraged, and
thus that the colony might be strong from a military
point of view, it was ordered that no one should own over
five hundred acres of land. It was also ordained that all
foreigners should have equal rights with Englishmen,
that there was to be complete religious toleration except
for Roman Catholics, that none but settlers of steady
habits should be admitted, that no rum should be im-
ported, and that the colonists were to practise military
drill.
In November, 1732, Oglethorpe, — appointed governor
and general, without pay, — set out from England with
Savannah thirty-five Selected families, and in February
founded. (1733) founded the city of Savannah, on a
bluff overlooking Savannah River, some ten miles from
the sea. In May he made a firm aUiance with the
neighboring Creeks, whom he treated with great consid-
eration. The second year (1734) there arrived a num-
ber of German Protestants, persecuted exiles from Salz-
burg, who had been invited to America by the English
Society for Propagating the Gospel. The Salzburgers
proved a desirable acquisition, setting a much-needed
example of industry and thrift. The Germans settled the
Other settle- town of Ebcnezer ; in the same year Augusta
ments. -yy^as planted, two hundred and thirty miles up
the Savannah River, as a fortified trading outpost in the
Indian country; while two years later (1736), another
armed colony was sent to found Frederica, at the mouth
of the Altamaha^ on the Spanish frontier.
1732-1741-] Development. 261
Augusta, which in 1741 numbered but forty-seven per-
manent inhabitants, in addition to a small garrison, was
The fur- the chief seat of the Georgia and South Caro-
trade. lina fur-traffic. It was the eastern key to the
Creek, Chickasaw, and Cherokee hunting-grounds. In
1 741, it was estimated that about one hundred and
twenty-five white men — traders, pack-horse men, ser-
vants, and townsmen — depended for their livelihood
upon the traffic centring at the Augusta station ; another
estimate, made in the same year, placed the number of
horses engaged at five hundred, and the annual value of
skins at fifty thousand pounds. The profits were great,
and would have been larger but for sharp competition
in the far-away camps of the barbarians; there the
Georgians and Carolinians met Frenchmen, who had
wandered from far Louisiana by devious ways, part
water, and part land, and Virginians, who found their
way to the southwest through the parallel valley system,
thus escaping the necessity of climbing the mountain
wall.
117. Slow development of Georgia (1735-1755).
The trustees perceived at last that men who had failed
at home were not likely to be successful as colonists, and
Dissatisf - ^hcy Sent over a party of Scotch Highlanders
tionofthe and yet more German Protestants. The col-
colonists. , f^ ,
ony now proved a success. Savannah was
well built, courts were established, the land-system was
well arranged, and Salzburgers, Moravians, and High-
landers soon came out in considerable numbers (1735-
1736). Yet there was no lack of discontent. The very
class for whom the colony was founded formed its most
undesirable inhabitants ; hardly a regulation originally
established for their supposed benefit was to their taste,
idle and worthless fellows were numerous, and some
262 Georgia, [Ch. xiii.
of them, finding their complaints unheeded, fled to the
Carolinas or to join the rough borderers. Among the set-
tlers were three enthusiastic sectaries, Charles Wesley,
secretary to Oglethorpe, his brother John, a missionary
to the Indians, and George Whitefield, who succeeded the
latter after he returned to England. Whitefield in later
years deeply stirred the American colonists, from Florida
to New England, in his efforts to arouse in them a strong
religious conviction (page 190.)
In 1736, Oglethorpe made an expedition to the south
as far as the English claim extended, and planted several
Expedition forts. At the same time he made a treaty
Spa'nih ^^^^ ^^ Chickasaws, and thus strengthened
Florida. the southem line. Three years later (1739),
war broke out between Spain and England. Fearing
that he might not be able to withstand an attack from
the Spaniards, Oglethorpe took the offensive (1740), and
marching into Florida planted himself before St. Augus-
tine, which had a garrison of two thousand men, well
supplied with artillery. Troops from Carolina soon came i
up. Sickness breaking out in the camp, and many of the \
Carolinians deserting, the siege, which had been gallantly
conducted, was at last abandoned.
Up to this time the Spaniards had been obliged to
stand on the defensive ; Cuba was threatened by a large
The Span- English squadron, — but the attack there proved
cessfullyTe^-' ^ failure, and opportunity was given for con-
taliate. centrating Spanish troops in Florida. In 1742
a heavy assault by land and sea was made on Frederica.
By a combination of bravery and superior stratagem,
Oglethorpe succeeded in holding the place until the ene-
my's fleet was frightened off by the arrival of English
vessels, and Georgia was henceforth free from Spanish
invasion.
Oglethorpe returned to England the following year'
I743-I752-] Slow Growth. 263
(1743), never to return to the colony. The trustees now
placed the government in charge of a president and four
A change of assistants. But after the departure of its gal-
policy, lant and public-spirited founder the colony no
longer flourished, and in a vain attempt to remove causes
for dissatisfaction the company made matters worse.
Slavery was introduced (1749), free traffic in rum was
permitted, and restrictions on the acquisition of land were
removed. Discontent grew apace among the original
settlers, who were always hard to suit; only the High-
landers and Germans remained satisfied.
In 1752, the charter was surrendered by the disap-
pointed proprietors, and Georgia became a royal province,
A royal ^'\\.h. a government similar to that of South
province. Carolina. The change wrought improvement
in many ways.
Georgia was the last of the thirteen colonies to be
founded, and remained one of the weakest until long after
Character- ^^^ Revolution. Its history is a proof that the'
istics of robust growth of a colony depends, not upon
the character and aims of its founders, but
upon the slow accretion of public sentiment and public
spirit.
264 Colonial Development [Ch. xiv.
CHAPTER XIV.
HE CONTINENTAL COLONIES FROM 1700
TO 1750.
118. References.
Bibliographies. — Avery, III. 426-446; Greene, Provincial
America, ch. xix. ; Winsor, V. passim.
Historical Maps. — Nos. 3 and 4, this volume {Epoch Maps,
Nos. 3, 4); MacCoun, and school histories already cited.
General Accounts. — Aveiy, III. chs. x.-xxvii.; G. Ban-
croft, II. 212-565; Channing, II. chs. xi.-xix.; Doyle, V.; G.
Eggleston, Eighteenth Century; Frothingham, Rise of Republic,
ch. iv.; Greene, as above; Hildreth, II. chs. xxii.-xxvii.; Lodge,
^olonies ; E. Sparks, Expansion of American People; Wilson,
American People, II. chs. i.-iii.; Winsor, V. chs. ii.-vi.
Special Histories. — Political : L. Kellogg, Colonial Charter;
Channing, Town and County Government; A. Cross, Anglican
Episcopate ; Greene, Provincial Governor ; C. Bishop, Elections in
American Colonies; A. McKinley, Suffrage Franchise ; McCrady,
South Carolina. — Economic: Weeden, Economic History;
E. Lord, Industrial Experiments ; G. Beer, Commercial Policy;
R. Paine, Ships and Sailors of Old Salem. — Nationalities:
L. Fosdick, French Blood in America; J. Rosengarten, French
Colonists and Exiles ; S. Cohh, Palatines ; F . UiSenderiev, German
Immigration; L. Bittinger, Germayis in Colonial Times, and Ger-
man Religious Life; Sachse, German Sectarians; Wayland,
German Element; C. Hanna, Scotch-Irish ; McLean, Scotch
Highlanders. — Financial: D. Dewey, Financial History, ch. i.;
A. Davis, Currency in Massachusetts Bay ; F. McLcod, Fiat Money
in New England; C. MacFarlane, Pennsylvania Paper Currency;
W. Shaw, Currency. — Taxation : F. Jones, Taxation in Con-
necticut. — Press: L. Schuyler, Liberty of Press; L. Rutherford,
Zengcr. — See also F. Dexter, Population in Colonies, and state
histories.
Contemporary Accounts. — Hutchinson, History of Massa-
chusetts Bay; Falckner, Curieuse Nachricht von Pennsylvania
(1702); Madam Knight, /oMrwa/ (1704); Fontaine, Z)iary (17 10-
1716); Mittelberger, Journey to Pennsylvania (1750-1754);
L'ranklin, Autobiography ; Woolman, Journal.
1700-1750-] Population, 265
119. Population (1700-1750).
Up to 1700 the history of each colony is the history of
a unit ; the impulse of colonization came in successive
Phases of waves, but each little commonwealth had its
common de- own interests, its own struggles, and looked
forward to its own future. From 1700 to 1750,
tliough the separate life and history of each colony con-
tinued, there were perceptible certain great phases of
common development, which will be briefly outlined.
Although disturbed by wars with the French and In-
dians, by domestic political quarrels, and by disputes with
Growth of the mother country regarding the regulation of
population, commerce and manufactures, there was a steady
growth of population in British North America during
the first half of the seventeenth century. The rewards of
industry were sufficient, coupled with considerable relig-
ious and political freedom, to entice a continuous, though
fluctuating, immigration from England and the continent
of Europe. In New England, where the English stock
was practically unmixed with foreign blood, the rate of
progress was less pronounced than in Pennsylvania and
the Soutli, which were largely recruited from other races.
In 1700, the population of New England was something
over one hundred and five thousand. By the beginning of
the French and Indian War (1754) it was a little less than
four hundred thousand. New Hampshire having forty thou-
sand, Massachusetts and Maine two hundred thousand,
Rhode Island forty thousand, and Connecticut a hundred
and ten thousand. The middle colonies commenced the
century with fifty-nine thousand; but by 1750 this had,
chiefly owing to the exceptionally rapid growth of Penn-
sylvania after 1730, increased to three hundred and fifty-
five thousand, of which New York contained ninety thou-
sand, New Jersey eighty thousand, and Pennsylvania and
266 Colonial Development, [Ch. XI\
Delaware one hundred and eighty-five thousand. In th
Southern group there was a population of eighty-nine thoi
sand in 1700, which had grown to six hundred and twen'
five thousand in 1763, not counting Georgia, settled .
1733, which in twenty years had acquired a populatio
of five thousand; Maryland had a hundred and fifty-foui
thousand, chiefly Englishmen, but there was a liberal ad
mixture of Germans and people of other nationalities
Virginia had nearly three hundred thousand, of whom thi
blacks were now in the majority. North Carolina, inj
portant in numbers only, had ninety thousand, of whori
twenty per cent were slaves ; South Carolina had eight}
thousand, the blacks outnumbering the whites by two oj
three to one. The total for the thirteen colonies in ly^i
is about thirteen hundred and seventy thousand. j
120. Attacks on the Charters (1701-1749).
For many years the New England charters were in im^
minent danger of annulment, the purpose apparently be
Attack on ing to place the colonies under a vice-rega
EngianT government. Those of Connecticut and Rhodi
charters. Island were the liberal documents granted t(
them early in their career ; electing their own governors
they were practically independent of the mother-country
and the general movement against the charters had thes(
two especially in view. From 1701 to 1749, the charter:
were seriously menaced at various times ; but on each oc
casion the astute diplomacy of the colonial agents in Eng
land succeeded in warding off the threatened attack
Worthy of especial mention in this connection are Sii
Henry Ashurst, the representative of Connecticut, anc
Jeremiah Dummer, his successor. In 171 5, at a time
when it was proposed to annex Rhode Island and Con
necticut to the unchartered royal province of New Hamp
shire, Dummer issued his now famous Defence of tht
|:7oi-i729-] Attacks on the Charters, 267
American Charters, in which he forcibly argued,— (i)
flrhat the colonies " have a good and undoubted right to
heir respective charters," inasmuch as they had been irre-
vocably granted by the sovereign " as premiums for ser-
rices to be performed." (2) " That these governments
lave by no misbehavior forfeited their charters," and
vere in no danger of becoming formidable to the mother-
land. (3) That to repeal the charters would endanger
I":olonial prosperity, and " whatever injures the trade of
he plantations must in proportion affect Great Britain,
;he source and centre of their commerce." (4) That the
rtjBcharters should be proceeded against in lower courts of
ustice, not in parliament. Dummer's presentment of the
jo case was regarded by the friends of the colonies as un-
inswerable, and was largely instrumental in causing an
iltimate abandonment of the ministerial attack on the
J^ew England charters.
In 1728, as a consequence of popular disturbances in
Ihe Carolinas, a writ of quo warranto was issued against
The Caroii- the charter, and the proprietors sold their in-
•o\^^*^ ro-^ terests to the Crown. A royal governor was now
Hnces. Sent out to each province. Heretofore, North
Carolina had been nominally ruled by a deputy serving
inder the South Carolina governor.
121. Settlement a^d Boundaries (1700-1750).
Boundary disputes were a constant source of interco-
onial irritation. There were long and vexatious boundary
Boundary wrangles between Connecticut and her neigh-
iisputes. bors, Rhode Island, New York, and Massachu-
setts. In 1683 an agreement reached between Connecticut
and New York was the basis of the present line, surveyed
in 1878-1879 ; it was 1826 before the final survey between
Connecticut and Massachusetts; the quarrel between
Connecticut and Rhode Island was protracted and
268 Colo7iial Development. [Ch. XIV.
heated, the line between them not being definitively es-
tablished until 1840. Wentworth, the first royal governor
of New Hampshire (i 740-1 767), made large land-grants,
which overlapped territory claimed by New York, and
thus brought on a protracted boundary controversy be-
tween those two provinces. Patents covering both sides
of Lake Champlain were alike issued by New York and
New Hampshire ; the settlers east of the lake organ-
ized in revolt, under the cognomen of Green Mountain
Boys, and were preparing to set up a government of their
own, when the Revolution broke out, and in 1777 the un-
acknowledged government of Vermont was formed. A set-
tlement of the boundary was not reached until Vermont
was admitted to the Union (1791). The boundary disputes
of New York with Massachusetts and Connecticut were
settled prior to the Revolution. In 1737 a boundary com-
mission adopted the present line between Massachusetts
and New Hampshire. The same commission estab-
lished the present western boundary of Maine. In a con-
test between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the former
claimed a portion of the latter's territory, on the ground
that it was included in the old Plymouth patent ; but in
the final settlement Rhode Island retained possession.
The Penn and Baltimore families long wrangled over the
boundaries between Pennsylvania and Maryland. An
agreement was reached in 1732, and ratified by a conven-
tion in 1760: under its terms, Charles Mason and Jere-
miah Dixon, two eminent London mathematicians, ran the
famous "Mason and Dixon line'* (1767), separating the
southern colonies from the northern. The boundary line
between the Carolinas was not defined until 1735- 1746. To
the north and west, English boundary disputes with the
French led to protracted and harassing wars; while to
the south, Georgia's claims clashed with those of the
Spaniards in Florida, and during the war beween Spain
1710-1770] Boundaries and Froiitiers, 269
and England occasion was taken by Oglethorpe (1740),
governor of Georgia, to invade Spanish territory (page 262).
No man of his time was more energetic in pushing the
confines of settlement and encouraging development than
Spotswpod's Governor Spotswood of Virginia (1710-1722),
enterprising a Stalwart soldicr who had fought under Marl-
^'' ' ' borough. He built iron furnaces, introduced
German vine-growers, made peace with the Indians, and
established several excellent mission schools for them
u])on the frontier; under his administration the fur-trade
spread far inland, and he did much to extend topographi-
cal knowledge of Virginia by fostering exploration.
The Shenandoah valley, opened to settlement by
Spotswood, became, after 1730, a notable home for
Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, driven by Enghsh persecu-
■t I . ^r.,,^ tion from their home in Ulster. They were by
1 he moun- •' -'
tain bor- this time coming over to America in two steady
streams, one pouring in at Philadelphia, and the
other at Charleston, S. C. Those arriving at Philadel-
phia pushed westward to the mountains, and drifting
southwestward through the long parallel valleys of the
Alleghany range, met in the Shenandoah and kindred
valleys those of their brethren who had gone up into the
hills of Carolina. It was from these frontier valley homes
that the migration into Kentucky and Tennessee pro-
ceeded a generation later, led by such daring spirits as
Boone, Sevier, and Robertson.
122. Schemes of Colonial Union (1690-1754).
Schemes for a union of the colonies, to provide for the
common defence and settle intercolonial differences, were
Govern- Humerous cnough, after the example set by the
mental New England Confederacy (Chapter VII.).
They emanated almost entirely, however, from
the government party, and chiefly for this reason were
270 Colo7iial Development, [Ch. XIV.
regarded with popular suspicion. In 1690 a continental
congress had been held at New York for the purpose of
treating with the Iroquois against the common enemy,
New France (page 206). In 1697 William Penn laid be-
fore the Board of Trade a plan providing for a high com-
missioner, appointed by the king, to preside over a council
composed of two delegates from each province, and to
act as commander-in-chief in times of war. The scheme
aroused much opposition from colonial pamphleteers, and
failed of adoption ; other plans which were promulgated
from time to time, for the next sixty years, were in the
main adaptations of Penn's, some of them providing for
two or three strongly centraHzed provinces, each to be
presided over by a viceroy, assisted by a council of
colonial delegates.
While the Board of Trade, distracted by doubts whether
the colonies could be more firmly held as separate gov-
Neichbor- cmments or under a viceregal union, was en-
hood con- gaged in considering the various propositions
gresses. submitted to it, several neighborhood con-
gresses were held by the provinces themselves, chiefly to
treat with Indians or for purposes of defence. But these
congresses were in no sense popular meetings ; they were
composed of the official class, and had little more effect;
on the people than to accustom them to the spectacle of
colonial union for matters of common interest.
In 1754 the Lords of Trade recommended a second gen-
eral congress of the colonies, to treat with the Iroquois
The second ^S^^'^ J ^^^7 ^^^° favored " articles of union
colonial and confederation with each other for the mu-
congress. ^^^j defence of his Majesty's subjects and in-
terests in North America, as well in time of peace as
war." The congress was held at Albany. Only seven
of the colonies were represented, — New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York,
I690-I754-L Colonial Unions. 271
Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The convention adopted
a plan of union prepared by Franklin, providing for a
general government that should be self-sustaining and
control federal affairs, — v/ar, Indians, and public lands,
— while the colonial governments were to retain their
constitutions intact. The plan was rejected by the
Its plan of colonial assemblies. Franklin himself wrote :
union re- "The Crown disapproved it, as having too
^^^ ^ ' much weight in the democratic part of the
constitution, and every assembly as having allowed too
much to prerogative." The defeat of the Albany plan
marks the end of efforts at union on the part of the
official class. The next movement came from the peo-
ple themselves, as the result of oppression on the part
of the mother-country.
123. Quarrels with Royal Governors (1700-1750).
The history of the English continental colonies during
the first half of the seventeenth century was largely made
Quarrels be- up of petty bickerings between the popular as-
nors and^^*^" sembUes and the royal governors. The salarj
assemblies, question was the most prominent feature ot
these disputes. Acting under orders from the Crown, the
governor in each colony insisted on being paid a regular
salary at stated intervals ; but the assembly as persist-
ently refused, and desiring to keep him dependent upon
them, voted from time to time such sums as they chose.
The principle at stake was important: a fixed salary grant
would have been in the nature of a tax imposed by the
Crown. Had the assembly been complaisant, the govern-
ment would have been thrown into the hands of the royal
governor and council, through their absolute power to
veto laws. The acrimonious contention was greatly dis-
turbing to all material interests, but it served as a most
valuable constitutional training school for the Revolutioa
272 Colonial Devetopment. [Ch. XIV. '
At times, in Boston, excitement over this perennial \
quarrel ran to a high pitch, and now and then it looked as
The salary though the assembly would be obliged to yield ;
Siassachu- ^"^ ^^^ v(itx\. of Massachusetts were of stubborn
setts. clay, and never displayed more bravery than
when the governor, backed by writs from England, threat-
ened them the loudest. In 1728, the assembly, defended
itself, saying it was "the undoubted right of all English-
men, by Magna Charta, to raise and dispose of money for
the public service of their own free accord, without com
pulsion." The Privy Council at last yielded the point
(1735), and left the Massachusetts governor free to re-
ceive whatever the assembly chose to grant. In some
of the colonies this salary question resulted in frequent
deadlocks, in which all public business was at a stand*
still.
124. Governors of Southern Colonies.
Other differences between the governors and their as-
semblies hinged on claims of prerogative, fees for issuing
Other dif- land-titles, issues of paper money, official at- !
ferences. tempts to favor the Church of England at the
expense of dissenters, and levies of men and money for the
public defence. There were also special grievances in many
South Caro- ^^ '^^ provinces. In South Carolina (1704-
Hna'sexpe- 1706), the proprietors attempted to exclude aU
but Church of England men from the assem-
bly. This led to a bitter controversy, in which the dis-
senters successfully appealed to the House of Lords, and
legal proceedings were commenced by the Crown for
the revocation of the Carolina charter; but they were
not then pushed to an issue. In 17 19 the meddlesome
executive policy of the proprietors resulted in a popular
uprising, in which the governor was deposed. Later, the
authorities (i 754-1 765) attempted to resist the issue of
paper money, and also to reduce representation in the
17001722.] Southern Turbulence, 273
assembly, while at the same time the home government
introduced some offensive regulations regarding land
patents. Popular indignation again expressed itself in
bloody turbulence, and the colony fell into great disorder.
In North Carolina the scattered colonists maintained
a vigorous resistance to arbitrary authority ; the tone of
North Caro- official life was low ; corruption in office was
l'"3- common ; contests over questions of public pol-
icy often led to rioting and anarchy ; bloodshed was not
infrequent in such times of popular disturbance. In the far
western valleys there was for a long period no pretence of
law or order, and criminals of every sort found a safe
refuge there; while pirates — until Blackbeard's capture
by Governor Spotswood of Virginia in 1718 — freely usjd
the deep-coast inlets as snug harbors, from which they
darted out with rakish craft to attack passing merchant-
vessels. From 1704 to 171 1 there was practically no
government in the province, owing to an insurrection
headed by Thomas Carey, whom Governor Spotswood
finally arrested (17 10) and sent prisoner to England.
During the administration of Governor Nicholson
(1698-1705) the Virginia assembly had quietly gained
control of the financial machinery, by making
Virginia. , „ ^ . .
the treasurer an officer of its own appomtment.
When, therefore, the customary eighteenth-century wrang-
ling commenced, the assembly was master of the situa-
tion. The burgesses refused to vote money for public
defence until the governors yielded their claims of pre-
rogative, and land-title fees.
125. Governors of Middle Colonies.
Nowhere was the weary disagreement between gov-
ernor and assembly so harmful to provincial interests as
in Pennsylvania. There were elements in the contention
|th^r^ not existing elsewhere. The Penn family, as the
18
2/4 CoIo7iial Devclopmeiit. [Ch. XIV.
proprietors, resisted the proposed inclusion of their lands
in tax levies for the conduct of miHtary operations, while
Pennsyl- the assembly for many years would vote no
vania. money for such purposes or pay the gover-
nor's salary, except on the condition that the proprietary
estates paid their share in the cost of defence. The
proprietors finally yielded (1759). Other points of
difference were, — the assertion of the gubernatorial pre-
rogative of establishing courts, and proprietary opposi-
tion to the reckless issues of paper money frequently
ordered by the assembly. The Quakers were opposed to
warfare on principle ; they would neither take up arms
themselves in defence of the borderers from the French
and Indians, nor, except when driven to it in times of
great distress, vote money to equip or pay volunteers.
They had, too, a great objection to levying and paying
taxes ; and in this they found strong allies in the Ger-
mans, who had now come over in large numbers, chiefly
to settle on wild lands in the interior of the province.
Most of the Germans and Quakers would go to almost
any length in compromise with the Indian and French
invaders who were mercilessly destroying the pioneer set-
tlements. The proprietors and their governors fretted
and threatened ; the English government sent over order
after order to the stubborn legislators ; the borderers
plied the deputies with heartrending appeals for aid: yet
the assembly long maintained its obstinate course, now
and then grudgingly voting insufficient issues of depre-
ciated bills of credit.
Lord Cornbury, who succeeded the Earl of Bellomont
as governor of New York and New Jersey (1702), was
not a man to inspire respect, being profligate
and overbearing ; he opposed popular inter-
ests, winning especial hatred through his petty persecu-
tion of dissenters from the Church of England. He was
1700-1750] Middle Colonies. 275
recalled in 1708, in response to general denunciation of
his course. His successors were in continuous and often
acrimonious controversy with their assemblies, but gen-
erally succeeded in inducing the deputies to contribute
with more or less liberality to the conduct of expeditions
against the French and Indians.
Governor Belcher of New Jersey (1748- 1757), who had
been worsted in a heated salary contest in Massachusetts
(i 730-1 741), and had profited by experience,
was now one of the few executives who under-
stood how to handle an assembly. By an obliging tem-
per he readily secured the passage of such revenue bills
as were essential to the proper defence of the colony
in the French and Indian war, and avoided serious
dispute.
126. Governors of New England Colonies.
The brief term of Sir William Phipps (i 692-1 695), as
governor of Massachusetts, — a province then extending
Pliipps's all the way from Rhode Island to New Bruns-
MassacJm-'" wick, with the exception of New Hampshire,—
setts. vvas filled with bitterness and disappointment.
At the outset of his career and the inauguration of the
new charter (page 176), the assembly in the absence of
any provision under that head, enacted that taxes were
only to be levied in the province with the consent of the
assembly. Had this rule been accepted by the Crown it
would have left little occasion for quarrels between gov-
ernor and people ; its rejection by the home government
left the door open to a train of events which ended,
eighty-four years later, in continental independence. The
witchcraft delusion (page 190) had stirred the colony to
its centre, and PhijDps gained no friends from his attitude
in that affair; he angered Boston and crippled its politi-
cal influence by securing the passage of a law (1694) that
276 Colonial Developments fCii. XIV.
deputies to the assembly must be residents of the dis-
tricts they represented ; and his temper was so testy that
at the time of his recall he was engaged in a quarrel with
nearly every leading man in the province.
The Earl of Bellomont came over in 1698 as governor
of New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and New
The Earl of Hampshire. In November the General Court
fnd'Esa- ^^ Massachusetts invited him to visit Boston
chusetts. " SO soon as the season of the year might
comfortably admit his undertaking so long and difficult a
journey." In the following spring (1699) he responded
to the call. In Massachusetts Bellomont won favor by
siding, as he had in New York, with the popular pa^ty,
and recommending to his government the introduction of
many reforms. In Rhode Island, where he tarried by the
way, he found much to dissatisfy him, and reported the
people as being ignorant, in a state of political and moral
disorder, with an indifferent set of public officials, who
were corrupt and abetted the pirates who swarmed in
Narragansett Bay. Bellomont promptly devoted himself
to the suppression of these sea-robbers, and in the year of
his own death (170 1 ) brought the notorious Kidd to the
gallows. Bellomont's conciliatory attitude towards Mas-
sachusetts did not please the English Board of Trade,
which sent him warning that the colonists had " a thirst
for independency," as was particularly exemplified in
their " denial of appeals."
Connecticut and Rhode luland were left with their old
charters and their popularly elected governors, and thus
Connecticut Were happily spared those quarrels over sala-
i"i^ ^'y^^ ries, prerogatives, and fees which elsewhere in
from dis- the colonies aroused so much ill-feeling. Gov-
^" ^*' ernor Fletcher of New York was commissioned
to take military control of Connecticut. He went to Hart-
ford (1693) to assert his right; but meeting with rude
1692-1750] New England Goveriiors. 277
treatment, felt impelled to return home, and little more was
heard from him. Like Massachusetts, Connecticut was
successful in preventing legal appeals to England.
In New Hampshire — which was separated from Mas-
sachusetts in 1 741 and became a royal province — there
The Mason ^^^^ been more than a century of dispute be-
ciaim in New tween the settlers and the proprietors respect-
amps ire. .^^^ ^^^ Mason claim, and much confusion had
at times arisen. The matter was at last ended by the
purchase of the claim by a land company (1749), which
released all of the settled tracts.
127. Effect of the French 'Wars (1700-1750).
The aggressions of the French and their policy of incit-
ing the northern and western Indians to murderous attacks
^ . , on the slowly advancing English frontier, kept
French and the colonics which abutted on New France in
an almost constant state of excitement. Those
provinces which had no Indian frontier, such as Mary-
land, Delaware, New Jersey, and Rhode Island, and the
Carolinas, — which latter had, however, several desperate
local Indian uprisings to quell, — experienced but little
alarm over the common danger, viewed schemes of union
with indifference, and contributed but grudgingly to the
funds and expeditions for general defence. Pennsylvania
was open to attack along an extended border; the Ger-
mans and Quakers being opposed to making war on
Indians, her frontier suffered greatly from frequent raids
of the enemy. New York, being on the highway between
the Atlantic coast and the Great Lakes and Canada, was
the scene of many bloody encounters. No other province
was so greatly exposed, and on none did the cost of the
prolonged and desperate contest between the French and
English in America so heavily fall. In 1706, during
Queen Anne's war (i 702-1713), the French made an
2jS Colonial Development, JCh. XIV.
unavailing attack on Charleston, South Carolina. In the
capture of Port Royal (1710), New England men chiefly
participated, and they were otherwise prominent through-
out the war. In King George's War (1744- 1748), New
Englanders alone took part, although New York and a
few other colonies contributed to the army chest. Louis-
burg was captured in 1745 by New England troops, who
were highly elated at their brilliant conquest. Eng-
land, too busy with her own affairs, could not well send
protection the following year, when a French fleet threat-
ened New England; a curious chapter of marine disas-
ters alone saved the Americans from being severely
punished in retaliation. This doubtless unavoidable neg-
lect on the part of the mother-country, and the final sur-
render of Louisburg to the French by the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle (1748), tended still further to strain the relations
between England and her colonies on the American
continent.
Admiral Vernon's expedition against the French in the
West Indies in 1740 was participated in by men from
Vernon's nearly all the English colonies, island and
fh?Wes°" *° continental. A campaign against the Spanish
Indies. settlements in Florida was undertaken by Ogle-
thorpe during the same year (page 262). The Carolinas
gave somewhat tardy aid to Georgia in this daring
enterprise.
128. Economic Conditions.
Massacnusetts was the first of the colonies to issue
paper money. This was in 1690, to aid in fitting out an
Paper money expedition against Canada. The other pro-
and finance, yinces followed at intervals. Affairs had come
to such a pass by 1748 that the price in paper of ^100
in coin ranged all the way from ^iioo in New England
to ^180 in Pennsylvania. The royal governors in all
1700-1750-] Wars and Economic Conditions, 279
the colonies, acting under instructions from home, were
generally persistent opponents of this financial expedient.
Governor Belcher of Massachusetts, in a proclamation
against the practice (1740), said it gave "great interrup-
tion and brought confusion into trade and business," and
"reflected great dishonor on his Majesty's government
here." In 1720, Parliament passed what was known as
" the Bubble Act," designed to break up all private bank-
ing companies in the United Kingdom chartered for the
issue of circulating notes ; this Act was made applicable to
the colonies in 1740, and reinforced in 1751, the last-named
Act forbidding the further issue of colonial paper money
except in cases of invasion or for the annual current ex-
penses of the government, these exceptional cases to be
under control of the Crown. In 1763 all issues to date
were declared void; although ten years later (1773), pro-
vincial bills of credit were made receivable as legal tender
at the treasuries of the colonies emitting them. The con-
troversy between the colonies and the home government
over these issues of a cheap circulating medium devel-
oped much bitterness on the part of the former, who
deemed the practice essential to their prosperity ; and it
was one of the many causes of the Revolution.
Another constant source of irritation were the parlia-
mentary Acts of Navigation and Trade (page 104). In
ActsofNavi- ^^ continental colonies there was no popular
gation and sentiment against smuggling or other interfer-
ence with the operation of these obnoxious
laws. In no colony were the Acts strictly observed ; had
they been enforced they would have worked unbearable
hardship. Massachusetts particularly offended the Board
of Trade by openly refusing to provide for their more
rigorous execution; coupling its stubborn behavior with
the bold assertion, quite contrary to ministerial ideas, that
the colonists were *'as much Englishmen as those in Eng
28o Cclonial Development. [Ch. XIV.
land, and had a right, therefore, to all the privileges which
the people of England enjoyed."
129. Political and Social Conditions (1700-1750).
In the colonies, as afterwards in the States, there was a
continual contest for supremacy between Virginia, where
Virginia political power was lodged in the aristocratic
NewEn?"^ class, and New England, where there was a
land ideas, voluntary recognition of aristocracy, but where
the body of the people ruled. Virginia ideas strongly
influenced North Carolina on the south, and Maryland,
Delaware, and Pennsylvania on the north. The tone of
life in South Carolina was purely southern, with no trace
of Virginian characteristics ; New York, also free from
Virginian methods, was strongly influenced by New
England ideas.
The governing class in Virginia were of strong Eng-
Political ^^^^ stock, and when occasion for political
affairs in the action offered, were ready for it, proving them-
' selves good soldiers and statesmen, and fur-
nishing some of the most powerful leaders in the revolt
against the mother-country. Their protracted fights with
the French and Indians inured them to habits of the
camp ; while quarrels with their governors, and bicker-
ings with the home government over the Navigation
Acts (page 104) and the impressment of seamen, fur-
nished schooling in constitutional agitation. By the
middle of the eighteenth century the majority of Vir-
ginians were natives of the soil, and their attachment to
England was weaker than that of their fathers; while the
considerable foreign element weakened the bond of union
with the mother-country. In Maryland general hostility
to the Church of England and its impolitic attempt to
suppress dissent, was an important factor in widening tlie
breach. North Carolina continued to be distinguished
1700-1750.1 Politics and Society. 281
for disorder and a low state of morals, education, and
wealth, and produced no great leaders in the opposition
to Great Britain. The people, having a keen percep-
tion of their rights, were eager enough in the patriot
cause; but there was a large Tory party, and conse-
quently fierce internal dissensions characterized the his-
tory of the colony throughout the Revolutionary agitation.
Being dependent on England for trade and supplies,
the aristocratic planters of South Carolina were drawn
much closer to the mother-country than in any other
continental colony. The Tory element was powerful,
yet the best and strongest men of the slave-holding
class were patriots, and furnished several popular lead-
ers of ability, — the colony ranking second only to Vir-
ginia, in the southern group, during the struggle with
the home government. Georgia was but newly settled,
and the English colonists were still strongly attached
to their native country; she was therefore more loyal
than her neighbors. The settlers from New England,
with the political shrewdness peculiar to their section,
succeeded in committing Georgia to the patriot cause;
but the mass of the people remained lukewarm, and
when English rule was overturned there was much law-
lessness. The community was immature, and had not
yet learned the art of self-government.
The Navigation Acts and the impressment of seamen
bore hard on Pennsylvania, and there was no lack of
in the Mid- Complaint against other forms of ministerial
die Colonies; interference with colonial rights. But the
Quakers, who were chiefly of the shopkeeping and trad-
ing class, had not experienced the long and painful
struggle for existence that had been the lot of most of
the other colonists. They had been prosperous from the
beginning; and being conservative, timid, and slow in
disposition and action, wer^ not easily persuaded to make
282 Colonial Development. [Ch. XIV.
material sacrifices for the sake of political sentiment.
Thus Pennsylvania was an uncertain factor in the revolt.
New Jersey, with no Indian frontier, no foreign trade,
and but light taxes, had few causes for complaint against
England. Her rulers were thrifty, conservative farmers,
who were disposed to be loyal ; yet as they were of pure
English descent, and tenacious of their liberties, they
were gradually drawn into an attitude of opposition to
English rule. New York was the only one of the middle
group of colonies which stood stoutly against England.
Since the days of Andros the people " caught at every-
thing to lessen the prerogative." New York city, as the
second commercial port on the coast, was naturally a seat
of opposition to the navigation laws. But the Tory mi-
nority were nowhere more active or determined than
in New York.
The New Englanders were pure in race, simple and
frugal in habit, enterprising, vigorous, intelligent, and
and in New with a high average of education. They were
England. small freeholders, possessed of a democratic
system which had powers of indefinite expansion, and
were trained in a political school well calculated to pro-
duce great popular leaders. Their political principles,
developed by a century and a half of contention with the
home government, pervaded the colonial revolt, and were
carried out in the national government in which it re-
sulted. The New England Confederation of 1643 bore
fruit in the Stamp-Act congress of 1765, and still more in
the Confederation of 1781 and the Constitution of 1787.
ICG. Besults of the Half-Century (1700-1750).
Although the period 1 700-1 750 has not the interest of
the previous half century of colonization, it has great con-
stitutional importaoce.. Th^ rugged individuality of the
Summary. 283
founders of the colonies, — New England, middle, and
southern, — was beginning to give way to a distinctly
The colonial American character. The colonies lived sepa-
spirit. rate lives; there was little intercommunication,
but their interests were much the same, their relations
with the mother-country were the same, and in the inter-
colonial wars they learned to act side by side. More
than this, they all enjoyed a greater degree of personal
freedom and local independence than was known any-
where else in the world. They had no consciousness of
any desire to become independent. They had their own
assemblies, made their own laws, and disregarded the Acts
of Trade. In population the colonies increased between
1650 and 1700 from about 100,000 to 250,000 ; during the
period 1 700-1 750 they grew to 1,370,000. A few passable
towns were built, — Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.
Their means were small, their horizon narrow, but their
spirit was large.
As the year 1750 approached, there came upon the colo-
nies two changes, destined to lead to a new political life.
In the first place, the colonies at last began to overrun the
mountain barrier which had hemmed them in on the west,
and thus to invite another and more desperate struggle
with the French. The first settlement made west of the
mountains was on a branch of the Kanawha (1748); in the
same season several adventurous Virginians
The English , , , i i , i • • t;^ i j
Ohio Com- hunted and made land-claims in Kentucky and
pany. Tennessee. Before the close of the following
year (1749) there had been formed the Ohio Company,
composed of wealthy Virginians, among whom were two
brothers of Washington. King George granted the com-
pany five hundred thousand acres, on which they were
to plant one hundred families and build and maintain
a fort. The first attempt to explore the region of the
Ohio brought the English and the French traders into
284 Colonial DevelopmenU [Ch. XIV.
conflict ; and troops were not long in following, on both
sides.
At the same time the home government was awaking
to the fact that the colonies were not under strict con-
New colo- trol. In 1750 the Administration began to
nial policy, consider means of stopping unlawful trade.
Before the plan could be perfected the French and In-
dian War broke out, in 1754. The story of that war
and of the consequences of simultaneously dispossessing
the French enemies of the colonies, and tightening the
reins of government, belongs to the next volume of the
series, — the Formation of the Union.
INDEX.
ACA
ACADIA, united to Massachu-
setts, 176. See Nova Scotia
Africa, supposed migrations from, to
America, 31 ; European explora-
tions of coast of, 24.
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 255,278.
Alaska, Asiatic migration to, 2;
aborignes of, 12.
Albany, founded, 196 ; as Fort
Nassau, 197 ; as Fort Orange,
198, 199; re-named by English,
203 ; characteristics, 228 ; fur-trade,
253; first Colonial Congress, 80,
206 ; second Colonial Congress,
270
Albemarle, 89; a district in Carolina,
8S-91.
Alexander VI., Pope, bull of parti-
tion, 24, 36, 196.
Algonquian Indians, status, g— 12 ;
as allies of the French, 206, 246,
250 ; uprising in New York, 200.
Alleghany mountains. See Appa-
lachian.
Andover, Mass., sacked by French
and Indians, 254.
Andros, Sir Edmund, governor of
Virginia, 79; governor of New
York and the Jerseys, 175, 176,
205, 206, 282 ; governor of New
England, 175, 189, 211.
Augusta, Ga., founded, 260; fur-
trade, 261.
Annapolis, Md., founded, 87, 98.
— , Nova Scotia. See Port Royal.
Antigua, Leeward Islands, 237.
Antinomian theory, held by Anne
Hutchinson, 133, 134.
ASS
Appalachian mountains, extent of, 3,
4, 6, 7 ; early explorations, 4, 269;
characteristics, 5, 6,97,179,219;
aborigines, 11 ; early Scotch set-
tlements in, 269.
Argall, Samuel, governor of Virginia,
73 ; destroys French settlements
in Acadia, 242.
Arizona, aborigines of, 8 ; early
Spanish explorations, 28-30 ; Span-
ish missions, 31.
Armada^ the Spanish, interrupts
American colonization, 40; defeat
of, 48, 52.
Asia, possible emigration from, to
America, 2, 3 ; distance from Am-
erica, 5; relation to American ex-
ploration, 25-27 ; early Europeaa
conunerce in, 23, 24.
Assemblies, hampered by commercial
companies and royal and proprie-
tary interference, 58; hold the
purse-strings, 59 ;origin of bicameral
system, 61 ; representative system,
62, 63 ; in the South generally, 97,
109, no; in Virginia, 73,75,77,
78; in the Carolinas, 90, 92; m
Maryland, 82-86 ; in Pennsylvania,
215, 216; in New Jersey, 211, 212,
2 14 ; in New Netherlands, 200, 201 ;
in New York, 200, 201, 204-206;
in Connecticut, 142, 143 ; in Rhode
Island, 147, 148; ill Massachusetts,
123, 126, 128; quarrels with the
royal governors (1700-1750), 271-
279.
Association for the defence of tha
Protestant religion in MarylandjSj.
2^6
Index,
ATL
Atlantic slope, natural entrance of
North America, 3, 5 ; rivers, 3, 4;
three grand natural divisions, 5, 6 ;
mining, 6 ; soil and climate, 6, 97 ;
aborigines of, 9, 10 ; early fur-
trade on, 18 ; early European ex-
plorations, 25-28; early English
colonies on, 47.
Aztecs. See Mexico.
BACON, Nathaniel, rebellion of,
78, 79, 80.
Bahamas, the, discovered by Colum-
bus, 23 ; claimed by English, 44 ;
included in Carolina, 90; send
settlers to Carolina, 93, 97 ; his-
torical sketch, 239, 240.
Balboa, Vasco Nuiiez de, discovers
Pacific ocean, 26.
Baltimore, Md., founded, 87.
— , Lord. See Calvert.
Baptists, in Carolina, 89 ; in Rhode
Island, 159.
Barbados, founded, 89 ; claimed by
English, 44 ; send settlers to Vir-
ginia, 93 ; Quakers at, 165 ; his-
torical sketch, 236, 237, 239.
Basques, American discoveries by,
21 ; engaged in Newfoundland
fisheries, 241.
Belcher, Jonathan, governor of New
Jersey, 221, 275; governor of
Massachusetts, 279.
Belize, history of, 241.
Bellomont, Earl of, governor of New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts,
and New Hampshire, 207, 274,
276.
Berkeley, Sir William, governor of
Virginia, 75, 77, 78, 79, 84 ; one of
the Carolina proprietors, 89; on
education in Virginia, 107, 108 ;
interest in New Jersey coloniza-
tion, 205, 211, 212.
Bermudas, claimed by English, 44 ;
annexed to Virginia, 72 ; send
settlers to Carolina, 90 ; inter-
colonial relations, 234 ; historical
sketch, 238, 239.
Biloxi (Old), Miss., founded, 248.
Blackbeard, a noted pirate, 273.
Blommaert, Samuel, Dutch patroon,
199, 207, 208.
Blue Laws, fabricated by Peters,
146.
Body of Liberties, 138, 139.
CAL
Boston, founded, 127; the Ann*
Hutchinson episode, 133-136;
New Haven colonists in, 144;
formation of New England Con-
federation, 156; Gortonites at,
160; expeditions against New
Netherlands, 163, 164, 168; levies
intercolonial duties, 164; repres-
sion of the Quakers, 165, 166; ar-
rival of royal commissioners, 168;
Indian missionary efforts, 170;
evasion of Navigation Acts, 173 ;
the rule of Andros, 175, 176;
slavery, 182 ; commerce, 186 ; con-
dition in 1700, 186; Tory element,
189; Sewall's repentance, 191, 192 ;
characteristics, 228; disputes with
Phipps, 27S, 276; Bellomont's
visit, 276.
Boundary disputes between the Jer-
seys, 212; between Maryland and
Pennsylvania, 217; between
French and English colonies, 255,
256 ; summary of intercolonial,
267-269.
Brazil, discovered by Cabral, 44 ;
Portuguese colonies, 43, 44, 48 ;
Huguenots in, 44.
Breda, treaty of, 237.
Brewster, William, leader of the
Pilgrims, 116, 117.
British Honduras, historical sketch,
241.
Brittany, early fishers from, at New^
foundland, 26, 33, 241.
Brook, Lord, attempt to introduce he-
reditary rank in Massachusetts, 59,
129; Connecticut land grant, 141.
Brownists, a branch of the Indepen-
dents, 115.
Bubble Act, passed by Parliament,
279.
CABOT, John, discovery of North
America, 25, 36, 52, 241, 242.
— , Sebastian, on the American coast,
California, gulf of, aborigines, 8, 12;
early Spanish explorations, 28, 29,
31 ; Spanish missions, 31.
Calvert, Cecilius, second Lord Balti-
more, 82, 83, 85, 86.
— , Charles, as governor of Mar^'-
land, 86 ; as third Lord Balti-
more, 86, 87.
— , George, first Lord Baltimore, 76,
77. 81, 82, 208.
Index.
287
CAL
Calvert, Leonard, governor of Mary-
land, 77, 82, 83, 84.
Calvin, John, iniluence of liis teach-
ii'Ks, 115.
Calvinisls, De Monts' colony of, 35,
Cambridge, Mass., founded, 127;
fortifications at, 12S ; meeting of
General Court, 135, 1,^6 ; establish-
ment of Harvard College, 130, 158,
188 ; emigration to Connecticut,
140; the " bishop's palace," 189.
Cambridge platform adopted, 162.
Canada. See New France.
Cape Breton island, discovered by
Cabot, 25; in early struggles be-
tween French and English, 252 ;
fall of Louisburg, 243; in King
William's War, 253; in King
George's War, 255.
Cape Cod, Champlain's visit, 36;
nained by Gosnold, 41 ; arrival of
Pilgrims, 117, iiS; Indian mis-
sionary efforts, 170; character of,
179.
Caribs, the, 8, 9, 236, 239.
Carolina, named after Charles IX.,
33 ; causes of failure of early colo-
nies, 41-43 ; French expelled by
Spaniards, 48 ; early settlers, 87-
89 ; under the lords proprietors, 89
-92; division of the colonies, 92;
reunited, 94; Barbadians in, 236,
237 ; geography, 96, 97 ; popula-
tion, 97 ; character of colonists,
97 ; agriculture, 102 ; commerce,
104. See North Carolina and
South Carolina.
Carteret, Sir George, obtains grant
of New Jersey, 205, 211, 212.
— , Philip, governor of New Jersey,
211.
Cartier, Jacques, explores St. Law-
rence River, 32, 246.
Catholics, in England, 115; in Vir-
ginia, 76 ; in Maryland, 77, 81-87,
108 ; in the Carolinas, 95 ; in
Pennsylvania, 108, 230 ; in New
Jersey, 214 ; in Georgia, 260 ;
policy of the church in New
France, 49, 50, 246, 247, 251,
252.
Cayuga Indians, 10, 11.
Cbamplain, Samuel de, early explor-
ations, 26, 35 ; founds Quebec, 36,
146 ; fights the Iroquois, 196; on
Lake Huron, 246, 247 ; as gover-
CHE
nor of New France, 251, 252 ;
death, 248.
Charles I., king of England, inter-
est in Virginia, 75 ; interest in
Maryland, S2, 84 ; interest in Caro-
lina, 88; attitude towards the Puri-
tans, 125, 127; annuls Massachu-
setts charter, 131 ; grants Windward
Islands to Carhsle, 237 ; execution,
76.
Charles II., king of England, recep-
tion of Berkeley 79; proclamied in
Massachusetts, 159; attitude to-
wards Quakers, 166; displeased
with New Englanders, 166-168,
174 ; treatment of Connecticut and
Rhode Island, 168, i6<;; claims
New Netherlands, 202, 203 ; in-
terest in New Jersey, 212 ; charter
to Penn, 215; charters Hudson's
I5ay Company, 243 ; attitude to-
wards New France, 252 ; death,
175- ^ ,
Charleston, S. C, founded, 92, 93,
98; churchmen in, 109: character-
istics, 228; arrival of Scotch, 269;
attacked by French, 278.
Charlestown, Mass., founded, 122,
127; fortified, 131; hanging of a
witch, 190.
Charters, commercial privileges of,
104, 105 ; of Virginia, 60, 66-69,
72, 74, 113; of Maryland, 81, 82;
of the Carolinas, 88, 89, 267, 272;
of Georgia, 259; of Delaware, 216 ;
of Pennsylvania, 210, 215, 217;
under the Dutch. 197, 198 ; South
Company of Sweden. 20S ; of New
Jersey, 211-213 ; of Connecticut,
61, 141, 168, 175, 276, 277; of
Rhode Island, 60, 61, 148, 149, 168,
'75 ; Plymouth Company, 120,
121, 124, 131, 150; Massachusetts
Bay, 60, 125-127, 131, 159, 169,
'74) i75» 177; to the Gorges, 122,
125, 150; to John Mason, 125,
150, 152 ; New Hampshire, 174 ;
ministerial attacks on the (1701-
1749)1 266, 267.
Cherokee Indians, status, 11; rela
tions with Georgians, 259, 261.
Chesapeake Bay, Cabot at, 25 ;
reached by Lane, 39 ; reached by
Jamestown colonists, 70; arrival
of royal commissioners, 76 ; Clay-
borne's operations, 77, 83 ; geog«
raphy, 218, 219.
288
Index.
CHI
Chickasaw Indians, status, ii ; rela-
tions with Georgians, 261, 262.
Chicora, Vasquez's conquest of, 27.
Choctaw Indians, status, 11.
Church of England, in England,
114, 115; in the Carolinas, 88, 91,
94, 109, 272 ; in Virginia, 67, 78,
108; in Maryland, 86, 87, 280; in
the South generally, 102, in; in
New York, 229, 230,274; in Mas-
sachusetts, 122, 130-132, 173, 175,
189; in New Hampshire, 152; in
Maine, 150, 151 ; a source of dis-
pute between governors and as-
semblies, 272.
Cibola, Seven Cities of, visited by
Spaniards, 29-31.
Clarendon, a district in Carolina, 89,
Claiborne, William, his quarrel with
^ Maryland, 76-7S, 83-85.
Cliff-Dwellers, status, 8.
Colleges, Harvard, !^o, 130, 158, 181,
188; Yale, 80; William and Mary,
80, 81, 103.
Colonization, motives of, 46 ; early
views of, 46; French policy, 35,
48-50 ; Spanish policy, 47, 48, 51 ;
Portuguese policy, 48 ; Dutch pol-
icy, 50, 51 ; German policy, 51 ;
English policy, 51, 53 ; relations
of colonists with Indians, 17-19;
experience of sixteenth century,
41-44; character of English emi-
grants, 53, 54 ; the institutions they
imported, 55-63 ; reasons for the
English movement, 65, 66.
Columbus, Christopher, discoveries
prior to his, 21-23 ; his discoveries,
23-25, 31, 237 ; his motives, 4, 6.
Commerce, early Norse, 22 ; of Eu-
rope with India, 23, 24, 27, 42 ;
fur-trade of early European ex-
plorers, 26, 28, 35, 52, 53 ; French
commercial companies, 35 ; of
Spain, in West Indies, 38, 39 ; as
a motive of colonization, 46; Span-
ish policy, 47 ; Portuguese policy,
48, 50; Dutch policy, 50, 51, 103-
105 ; early English commercial
companies, 55, 65, 68, 69; London
company, 66-74 ; Plymouth com-
pany, 114 ; Massachusetts Bay
Company, 125-127; economic ef-
fect on England, 65 ; intercolo-
nial, 102-107, 130; colonial, with
England, 103, 104, 130, 169 ; the
CRO
Navigation Acts, 104-106. See
Fur-trade.
Communal proprietorship, in Vir-
ginia, 68, 73; at Plymouth, 117,
120, 121.
Congregationalists, origin of name,
162; organization, 189; in middle
colonies, 230.
Connecticut, founded, 136, 140-142;
Pequod War, 136, 137 ; govern^
ment, 142-144; early Dutch set-
tlers, 136, 198, 199; conflicts be-
tween Dutch and English, 163,
202 ; New Haven founded and
absorbed, 144-146, 168 ; character-
istics of Connecticut and New
Haven, 146; in the New England
Confederation, 155, 156; river-toll
levied, 164; treatment of Quakers,
166; Massachusetts absorbs more
territory, 173 ; history of the char-
ter, 168, 175, 177, 266, 267, 276,
277 I litigation, 182, 183 ; iron
mining, 184 ; agriculture, 186 ;
colonization schemes on the Dela-
ware, 208, 209 ; boundary disputes,
267, 268 ; represented in second
colonial congress, 270; Fletcher's
visit, 276, 277 ; population (1700)
180,(1754)265.
Cordilleran mountains. See Rocky
mountains.
Corn bury, Lord, governor of Nev/
York and New Jersey, 274, 275.
Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de,
search for Cibola, 11, 29-31.
Cortereal, Caspar, explores Ameri-
can coast, 25, 241.
Cortez, Hernando, conquest of Mex-
ico, 8, 27-29.
Council for New England. See Ply-
mouth Company.
County, the, in England, 55 ; in the
South, 56; in middle colonies,
57; in New York, 204; in Penn-
sylvania, 216.
Coureurs de bois., their characteris-
tics, 247, 249, 250 ; explorations of,
248, 253. _
Creek Indians, status, 11; relations
with Georgians, 260, 261.
Cromwell, Oliver, accepted in Vir-
ginia, 76, 78; in Maryland, 85;
friendship for New England, 159;
expedition against New Nether-
lands, 163, 164, 202; sends pris'
oners to Barbados, 236.
Index.
28-9
CUB
Cuba, slavery in, 239 ; threatened by
English, 262.
Culi)et)er, Thomas, Lord, governor
of Virginia, 78-8<^).
Cumberland Gap, a highway for ex-
ploration, 4.
T^AKOTAH Indians, status, 11,
Danes, in Iceland, 21.
Dare, Virginia, first English child
born in the Unitt-d States, 40.
Davenport, John, heads New Haven
colony, 144, 14S-
Delaware, early Dutch settlers. 207,
20S ; the Swedes, 201, 20S ; tall of
New Sweden, 209; annexed to
Pennsylvania, 210, 216, 217; a
separate colony, 61, 2 10, 217 ; geog-
rapliy, 218, 219; social classes,
222-224 ; occupations, 224, 225 ;
trade and commerce, 225, 226; lite
and manners, 227; religion, 230;
general characteristics, 210; In-
dian affairs, 277; influence of Vir-
ginian ideas on, 280; population
(1700), 221, 222, (1750) 266.
— , I.ord, governor of Virginia, 72.
— River, early settlements on,
51, 107-199, 207-210, 215, 216;
Dutch claims on, 163 ; contlicts
between Dutch and Swedes, 200.
De Monts, Sieur, colonizes Nova
Scotia, 35i 3'>, 242.
De Soto, Hernando, expedition of,
II, 30, 31, 47.
Detroit, site discovered, 248, 249.
Digger Indians, status, 9.
" Discovery," the, carries colonists
to Virginia, 69.
Dominica, Leeward Islands, 237, 23S.
Dorchester, Mass., fortified, 131 ;
emigration from, to Connecticut,
140, 141.
Drake, Sir Francis, explorations, 37,
52 ; relieves Raleigh's colony, 39;
resists the Armada, 40.
Dudley, Joseph, president of Aii-
dros's council, 175, 176.
— , Thomas, lieutenant-governor of
Massachusetts, 127, 135, 175; gov-
ernor, 129.
" Duke's laws," the, in New York,
203, 204.
Dummer, Jeremiah, " Defence of
the American Charters," 266, 267
ENG
Dunkards, in Pennsylvania, 230.
Dutch, the, early claims in America,
44 ; colonial policy, 50, 51 ; as
ocean carriers, 103, 104; plant
New Netherlands, 196-198; pa-
troon system, it/i-aoo; operations
on the Connecticut, 136, 140, 141 ;
collisions with English traders and
settlers, 47, 145, 155, 162-164, 199,
200; Swedish opposition, 51,208,
200; wars with England, 159, 163,
164, 168, 201-203 ; fall of New
Netherlands, 168, 202, 203 ; New
Netherlands recaptured, but lost
again, 205 ; in the West Indies,
236-238; in New York, 203, 204,
220, 22r, 223, 227, 229, 231, 232,
in New Jersey, 210, 211, 221; in
Pennsylvania and Delaware, 207-
2 10, 215, 217, 221 , 222.
— East India Company, sends out
Hudson, k/j.
— Reformed Church, in middle
colonies, 230.
— West India Company, char-
tered, 197 ; patroon system, 198-
200, 223 ; plan of government, 203 ;
Delaware settlements, 207, 209;
fiacific policy towards New Eng-
and, 163.
EAST INDIA COMPANY,
66.
East Indies, Dutch in the, 50.
East New Jersey, as a separate prov-
ince, 212-214; population (1700),
221.
Eaton, Theophilus, heads New Ha-
ven colony, 144, 145.
Edward VI., king of England, 36.
Edwards, Jonathan, character, 183;
revival work, 190.
Eliot, John, the Indian missionary,
170, 189.
Elizabeth, queen of England, inter-
est in American colonization, 37,
38, 40, 52, 53, 67, 68; English
commerce under, 104 ; Puritanism
under, 114, 115.
England, attitude towards papal bull
of partition, 24, 25 ; sends out
Cabot, 25 ; fishing colony at New-
foundland, 26 ; early exploration
and settlements in America, 36-
44 ; becomes a great power, 48 ;
reasons for final colonization ol
19
290
Index.
END
America, 65, 66 ; character of her
colonists, 53-55 ; her colonial pol-
icy, 51-53 ; the institutions in which
her colonists were trained, 53-58 ;
Quaker repression, 165.
Endicott, John, heads the Massa-
chusetts colony, 125, 126.
Eskimos, possible Asiatic origin of,
2, 3 ; status, 12.
Exeter, N. H., founded, 152.
FINNS, in Delaware and Penn-
sylvania, 221.
Fisheries at Newfoundland, 26, 36,
37, 49, 52, 241, 242; in Carolina,
93 ; in England, 104 ; in New
England, 113, 114, 124, 130, 151,
184, 185.
Five Nations. See Iroquois.
Fletcher, Benjamin, governor of
New York, 206, 207, 210, 276.
Florida, Spanish exploration of, 27,
28, 30, 31 ; Spanish occupation,
31, 32, 43, 88, 93 ; French occupa-
tion, 33, 34, 44, 49, 88; French ex-
pelled by Spanish, 48; Ogle-
thorpe's expedition, 262, 278.
Fort Casimir, Del., 209.
Fort Christina, 208, 215. See Wil-
mington, Del.
Fort Nassau, site of Albany, 197.
— , on the Delaware, 197, 201, 207,
208.
Fort Orange. See Albany.
Franklin, Benjamin, plan for colonial
union, 271.
Frederica, Ga., founded, 260', at-
tacked by Spanish, 262.
" Freemen," term defined, 62.
French, the, colonies in Florida, 33,
34, 44, 49, 88 ; causes of failure of
early colonies, 43, 44 ; early at-
tempts to colonize Canada, 35, 36;
fishing colony at Newfoundland,
26, 241, 242 ; Quebec founded, 36 ;
France becomes a great power, 48,
52; colonial policy of, 48-50; in-
fluence on English colonization in
America, 57; opposition to Eng-
lish settlement, 47, 206, 207 ; m
New Amsterdam, 201 ; in Penn-
sylvania and Delaware, 221; con-
flicts with English in West Indies,
236-239, 244; holds Acadia, 242,
243 ; troubles with Hudson's Bay
Company, 244 ; rivalry of Georgian
traders. 259, 261.
GOR
French and Indian War, 221, 221,
274, 275, 284.
Frobisher, Martin, efforts at Ameri-
ican colonization, 37, 52 ; resists
the Armada, 40.
Frontenac, Louis de Buade, Comte
de, governor of New France, 251,
254-
Fundamental constitutions, devised
for Carolina, 90, 91, 93, 95.
Fur-trade, early spread of, 17, 18;
by Norsemen, 22 ; by other early
European explorers, 26, 28, 35, 52,
53 ; of New France, 35, 49, 50,
247-251, 256-258 ; by Claiborne,
76, 77 ; of Georgia, 259, 261 ; of
Carolina, 93, 104; of Virginia, 104,
269; of Maryland, 104; of Penn-
sylvania, 225, 226; of New Am-
sterdam, 118; of New Sweden,
208, 209 ; of New York, 198, 202,
221, 225, 226, 228; in middle colo-
nies generally, 232 ; of Connec-
ticut, 140, 141, 155; of Plymouth,
122, 124 ; of New Hampshire, 152 ;
of New England generally, 113;
by Hudson's Bay Company, 243,
244 ; by American and Northwest
companies, 244.
GAMA, Vasco da, reaches India,
25.
George II., king of England, name-
giver for Georgia, 259; grants
land to Ohio Company, 283.
Georgia, settlement of, 258-262 ; fur-
trade, 259, 261 ; expedition against
Florida Spaniards, 262, 278: be-
comes a royal province, 263 ; popv
ulation (1750), 266; political spirit,
281.
Germans, in Georgia, 260, 261, 263 ;
in North Carolina, 97 ; in Virginia,
269 ; in Maryland, 266; in Penn-
sylvania and Delaware, 217, 221,
222, 225, 229, 230, 274, 277; in
New York, 221.
Germany, colonial policy of, 51 ;
Presbyterian movement in, 115.
Gomez, Estevan, on the North
American coast, 27, 28.
Gorges, Sir Ferdinando, early in-
terest in American colonization,
41, 66, 150; member of Plymouth
Company, 113, 114; lord propri-
etor of Maine, 150-152,158; allied
Index.
291
GOR
with Mason in colonizing New
Hampshire, 125, 152.
Gorges, Robert, governor-general of
New England, 122, 132 ; land-
grants to, 125.
— , Thomas, deputy-governor of
Maine, 152.
Gorton, Samuel, difficulties with
Rhode Islanders, 160, 161, 164.
Gosnold, Bartholomew, voyages to
America, 41, 65, 66, 69, 71.
Green Bay, Wis., Nicolet at, 12,248.
Green Mountain Boys, origin of, 268.
Greenland, discovered by Norsemen,
21 ; Norwegian settlements in, 21-
Grenada, Windward Islands, 237.
Grenadines, the, Windward Islands,
237-
Grenville, Sir Richard, leads colony
to Roanoke, 38-40, 52 ; resists the
Armada, 40.
"Guinea," the, in Chesapeake Bay,
76.
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Swe-
den, interest in American coloni-
zation, 51, 208.
Guzman, Nuno Beltran de, founds
Culiacan, 28, 29; expedition to
Cibola, 29.
HADLEY, Mass., shelters the
regicides, 167.
Hakluyt, Richard, early English
chronicler, 37 ; interest in Ameri-
can colonization, 66, 69.
Hartford, Conn., founded, 136, 140,
141 ; raided by Indians, 137 ; the
charter-oak story, 175; early Dutch
settlement at, 199; Fletcher's visit,
276, 277.
Harvard College founded, 80, 130,
188 ; aided by New England Con-
federation, 158 ; social distinctions
at, 181.
Hawkins, Sir John, visits Florida,
34 ; resists the Armada, 40.
Heath, Sir Robert, first proprietor
of Carolina, 88.
Henri IV., king of France, his colo-
nial policy, 35.
Henry VII., king of England, re-
wards Cabot, 25 ; attitude towards
bull of partition, 36 ; Navigation
Acts under, 104.
— VIII., king of England, interest
in northwest passage, 36.
IND
Hoboken, N. J., founded, 199.
Holland, English Independents in,
115-117. See Dutch.
Hooker, Thomas, supports Anne
Hutchinson, 134; assists in set-
tling Connecticut, 141 ; as a consti-
tution-maker, 143 ; character, 183.
Hopi Indians, Spanish with, 29, 30.
Howard of Effingham, Lord, Gov-
ernor of Virginia, 79.
Hudson Bay, exploration of, 4; ab-
origines of, 9, 12 ; early French
visits, 247, 24S.
Hudson, Hendrik, discovers Hud-
son River, 44, 50, 125, 196.
— River, discovered by Hudson, 50,
125, 196; early Dutch trade on,
118; as a highway for trade, ex-
ploration, and Indian war-parties,
4, 5. 8, 155, 202, 219, 220, 255;
named in London Company's
charter, 66 ; Pilgrim land-grant
on, 197 ; early settlements on, 22 1 ;
patroons' estates on, 198-200, 223,
227 ; Dutch attempt to exclude
English from, 199, 200.
Hudson's Bay Company, organized,
248 ; intercolonial relations, 234;
historical sketch, 243, 244.
Huguenots, in Flonda, 31-34, 49;
De Monts' colony, 35, 36; in Bra-
zil, 44; in New France, 49, 252;
in Carolina, 87, 88, 93-95, 97, 108 ;
in Virginia, 81 ; in New York, 221 ;
in New England, 221.
Hutchinson, Anne, religious agita-
tor in Massachusetts, 133-136;
in Rhode Island, 146, 147 ; her
adherents in New Hampshire, 152.
ICELAND, early settlements in,
21, 22.
Illinois, canoe portages in, 4; abo-
rigines of, 12 ; French settlements,
247, 253.
Independents, definition of term,
115; in Holland, 115-117. See
Puritans.
India, early commerce with Europe,
23, 24, 66 ; reached by Portuguese,
25 ; effect on American explora-
tion, 26, 27, 50; search for water
passage to, 42, 196.
Indian Territory, Southern Indians
in, 1 1 ; early Spanish exploration
in, 28.
292
Index.
IND
Indians, their origin, 2, 3 ; philologi-
cal divisions, 9—12 ; characteris-
tics, 13-16; relations with English
colonists in general, 17-19, 36, 38-
43; Pequod War, 136, 137 ; Phil-
ip's War, 14, 170-172, 188 ; rela-
tions with the Spaniards, 27-32,
42, 43. 47. 238, 239': with the Por-
tuguese, 48; with the French, 34,
35,49, 246-258; with the Dutch,
163 ; with Georgia, 259-261 ; with
Carolina, 88, 89, 277 ; with Vir-
ginia, 14, 68, 71, 74, 75, 77, 78, 269,
280; with Maryland, 83, 86, 277;
with the South generally, 56, 97 ;
with Pennsylvania, 216, 217, 222,
274, 277; with Delaware, 207-209,
277; with New Jersey, 211, 214,
231, 277, 282 ; with New York,
196, 198-202, 206, 207, 230, 270,
271, 277; with Connecticut, 140,
142, 155; with Rhode Island, 160,
161, 164, 277; with Massachusetts,
140, 170, 173 ; with Maine, 172 ;
with New England generally, 119,
120, 133, 136,-137, 170-.
Ipswich, Mass., Nathaniel Ward at,
138; trial of John Wise, 176.
Irish, American discoveries by, 21 ;
in Iceland, i\\ in Pennsylvania
and Delaware, 222.
Iroquois, the, status, 10, 11 ; hos-
tility to French, 196, 246, 248-250,
253 ; allies of Dutch and English,
196, 200, 207, 256.
JAMAICA, historical sketch, 240,
241.
James I., king of England, charters
London and Plymouth companies,
66-69, 113; interest in Virginia
colonization, 74, 75, 81 ; treatment
of Puritans, 115, 116.
— II., king of England, colonial
policy of, 175 ; attitude towards
New York and New Jersey, 206,
213, 214; flight, 176.
— River, exploration of, 26 ; named
by Jamestown colonists, 70; Hu-
guenot settlement on, 81.
Jamestown, Va., settlement of, 70-
72, 113 : early iron smelting at, 6;
mtroduction of slaves, 74; Indian
massacre, 74 ; Puritans at, 76 ;
burned, 79 ; Baltimore at, 81 ; as
capital of Virginia, 98 ; communal
proprietorship at, 120.
LEO
Japan, prehistoric vessels from, a;
early European attempts to reach,
42.
Jesuits, in New France, 36, 253 ; in
Maryland, 83 ; in New York, 230;
explorations in the Northwest, 247.
JoUiet, Louis, discovery of Missis-
sippi River, 26, 248.
\Z ANSAS, crossed by Coronado,
Kent island, occupied by Claiborne,
77, 83-85.
Kentucky, early exploration, 4 ; ab-
origines of, 9 ; early white settle-
ments, 269, 283.
Kidd, William, a noted pirate, 276.
Kieft, William, governor of New
Netherlands, 200, 201, 208, 209.
King George's War, 255. 256, 278.
King William's War, 253, 254.
LABRADOR, Norse discovery
of, 22 ; early English voyages
to, 37.
Lake Champlain, as a highway for
exploration and Indian raids, 4,
220; discovery, 196; New York
and New Hampshire land claims
on, 268.
Lake Erie, aborigines on, 10, 11 ;
discovery, 248.
Lake George, as a highway for ex-
ploration, 4.
Lake Huron, reached by Champlain,
246, 248.
Lake Michigan, discovered, 12,248.
Lake Ontario, aborigines on, 10, 11 ;
drainage system, 219, 220; dis-
covered, 248.
Lake Superior, early fur-trade on, 18 ;
in Champlain's time, 247; visited
by RadissonandGrosseilliers, 247,
248; early French settlement on,
^53-
La Salle, Chevalier, explorations of,
248.
Laud, Archbishop, represses dissent
in Massachusetts, 131 ; in prison,
158.
Leeward Islands, English colonies
on, 237, 238.
Leisler, Jacob, heads a revolution in
New York, 206.
Leon, Ponce de, explores Florida, 27.
Ffidex.
293
LER
L^ry, Baron de, colonizing attempt
of, 35- . . .
Locke, John, his constitution for the
Carolinas, 58, 90, gi, 93, 95.
London Company, chartered, 66,
113; settles Virginia, 69-74, 8i ;
criticised by James I., 74; grant
to the Pilgrims, 116, 117; charter
annulled, 74.
Long Island, Block's visit, 196; Wal-
loon settlement, 198 ; conflicts be-
tween Dutch and English, 163,
202 ; Connecticut wins a part, 163 ;
religion on, 229, 230; crime on,
231-
Long Parliament, the, Virginia under,
76 ; Navigation Act of, 105 ; rela-
tion to Massachusetts, 132.
Louis XIV,, king of France, his
colonial policy, 49, 251-253.
Louisburg, captured by the English,
255) 278.
Ludwell, Philip, governor of South
Carolina, 94 ; and of reunited
Carolina, 94.
Lutherans, in middle colonies, 230.
Louisiana, early French settlement
of, 248.
Lower California, early Spanish ex-
ploration of, 28, 29, 31.
MAINE, De Monts' colony, 36 ;
visited by Ciosnold and Pring,
41 ; Gorges' proprietorship, 150,
iS'i 1 73; characteristics, 150; not
in the New England Confederation,
>57> 158; absorbed by Massachu-
setts, 152, 173, 174; Indian up-
rising, 172, 188; rule of Andros,
175 ; in King William's War, 177,
254; river system, 179; commerce,
185; agriculture 186; education,
188; population (1700) 180,(1754)
265 ; boundary established, 268.
Maldonado, Lorenzo Ferrer de, on
the Pacific coast, 28.
Manhattan Island, Block's visit, 196;
early settlement, 197, 198. See
New York City.
Marquette, Father Jacques, on Mis-
sissippi River, 26, 248.
Martha's Vineyard, Indian mission-
ary efforts at, 170.
Maryland, origin of name, 82 ; set-
tlement, 76, 81-84 ; landed estates,
58; judiciary, 60;, during English
MAS
Revolution, 84, 85 ; development,
86, 87 ; becomes a royal province,
61,87; Claiborne's quarrel, 76, 77 ;
geography, 96 ; character of colon-
ists, 97 ; its capital, 98 ; occupa-
tions, 102 ; religion, 102, 108; com»
merce, 103, 104 < tobacco-raising,
103 ; William and Mary's College,
103 ; witchcraft trials, 192 ; boun-
dary disputes, 209, 217, 268; set-
tlers patronize Pennsylvania mills,
225; represented in colonial con-
gress, 270; Indian affairs, 83, 86,
277; influence of Virginia ideas
on, 280; political spirit, 280; pop-
ulation (1688) 97, (1763) 266.
Mason, Charles, runs " Mason and
Dixon line," 268.
— , John, colonizing efforts in New
Hampshire, 125, 150, 152, 153,
277.
— , Capt. John, in Pequod War, 137,
142.
Massachusetts, settlement, 124-127,
144; suffrage qualifications, 61, 62,
167; social distinctions, 59; Har-
vard College founded, 80; inter-
nal dissensions, 129-132; religioBS
troubles, 132-136, 146, 152 ; inter-
est in Pequod War, 136, 137;
laws, 137-139; characteristics, 139,
140 ; the Watertown protest, 62 ;
emigration to Connecticut, 140-
142 ; emigration to Rhode Island,
147 ; interest in the Gorton case,
160, 164 ; absorbs New Hamp-
shire, 152, 153, 173* absorbs Ply-,
mouth, 124, 176; annexes land iq
Connecticut and Maine, 173 ; int
fluence in the Confederation, 155-
157, 164 ; independent attitude to-
wards England, 158, 159, 161 ;
jealousy of king Charles, 173 ;
under the royal commissioners,
167, i68 ; charter annulled, 131,
132, 169, 174, 175; becomes a
royal province, 175; rule of An-
dros, 175, 176; the Presbyterian
movement, 162 ; attitude in war
with New Netherlands, 163, 164,
disputes Connecticut ship-toll, 164,
repression of Quakers, 165, 166,
169; Philip's VVar, 170-172, 188;
absorbs Acadia, 176 ; new charter,
176, 177; population, (1700) 180,
(1754) 265 ; slavery, 182, 272, 275;
iron mining, 184 ; manufactureS|
294
Index,
MAS
184; fisheries, 184; ship-building
and commerce, 185 ; agriculture,
186; witchcraft delusion, igo-192;
boundary disputes, 267, 268 ; rep-
resented in second colonial con-
gress, 270 ; Phipps's term, 275,
276; Bellomont's term, 207, 276;
loses New Hampshire, 277 ; paper
money, 278, 279.
Massachusetts Bay, visited by Rober-
val, 33 ; early settlements on, 122,
124, 127.
— Company, chartered, 125 ; re-
moves to America, 126, 127; char-
ter annulled, 131, 132, 169, 174,
175- .
Massasoit, head-chief of Pokano-
kets, 121, 170.
Mather, Cotton, in witchcraft trials,
191, 192.
— , Increase, influence in Massachu-
setts politics, 176, 177.
Maverick, Samuel, early Massachu-
setts settler, 122, 150; royal com-
missioner, 167.
" Mayflower," voyage of, 36, 117,
118, 142, 197.
Melendez de Aviles, Pedro, his mas-
sacre of Huguenots in Florida, 34.
Mexico, aborigines of, 8; Spanish
conquest of, 8, 11, 27-31, 42, 47;
Spanish colonies, 31, 32.
— Gulf of, Spanish explorations of,
4, 27; aborigines of, g, n ; Span-
ish possessions on, 43.
Middletown, N. J., founded, 2ii.
Milford, Conn., founded, 145.
Mining, Spanish efforts at, 28-30;
early Englisli efforts, 6, 37, 39, 41 ;
in Virginia, 6, 69, 71, 269 ; in New
England, 180 ; in Pennsylvania,
2ig, 221;.
Minuit, Peter, founds New Amster-
dam, 198 ; in employ of the
Swedes, 201, 208.
Mississippi River, portage-routes, 4 ;
geography of basin, 6, 7; abori-
gines of valley of, 9-12 ; discov-
ered by De Soto, 31, 44; French
Teaching out for the, 47 ; seen by
Radisson and Grosseilliers, 247;
seen by Jolliet and Marquette, 26,
248; early trade on, 18; drainage
system, 219; La Salle on the, 248;
early French settlements on, 253 ;
as an element in French- English
boundary disputes, 256.
NEW
Mohawk Indians, status, 10, 11.
Mohican Indians, status, 9, 10.
Montreal, Cartier at, 32 ; Chain<
plain's visit, 35 ; founded, 246.
Montserrat, Leeward Islands, 237^
238.
Moravians, in North Carolina, 97;
in Pennsylvania, 229 ; in Georgia,
261.
Morton, Thomas, at Merrymount,
122, 127.
Mound-builders, 12.
AJANTASKET, Mass., founded,
Narragansett Bay, early settlements
on, 133, 146, 159, 161 ; Philip's
War on, 171.
Narragansett Indians, status, 9, 10;
troubles with whites, 136, 137,
164 ; in Philip's War, 170.
Narvaez, Pamphilo de, in Florida,
II, 28, 30, 47.
Natchez Indians, 9.
Navigation Acts, historical sketch o^
104-106 ; effect in South Carolina,
94 ; in Virginia, 78, 80, 280 ; in
Maryland, 86; in Pennsylvania,
281 ; in the Jerseys, 231 ; in New
York, 232 ; in Massachusetts, 173,
279, 280; in New England gene-
rally, 184; in the West Indies,
235, 236; one of the causes of the
Revolution, 279.
Nevis, Leeward Islands, 237, 238.
New Amsterdam, founded, 198;
Kieft's term, 208, 209 ; Stuyve-
sant's term, 201,209; captured by
English, 168, 202, 203 ; becomes
New York, 203 ; fur-trade of, 253.
See Dutch.
Newark, N. J., founded, 211.
New Brunswick, De Monts' colony
in, 36,
Newcastle, Del., founded, 202, 215;
characteristics, 228.
New England, geography of, 5, 6,
179, 180 : early mining, 6; named
by Smith, 72, 113, 114; popula-
tion, (i6go) 253, {1700) 180, 181,
(1700-1750) 265; social distinc-
tions, 58, 181, 182; slavery, 182 j
occupations, 182-184; manufac-
tures, 184; fisheries and ship"
bidex.
295
NEW
buildinp;, 185 ; commerce, 77, 164.
185, 186, 234, 235; towns, 186;
education, 188; crime, 188; re-
linion, i8g, 190, 194; witchcraft
delusion, 190-192; life .and man-
ners, 187 ; political conditions, 192-
194, 2S2 ; repression of Quakers,
165, 166; formation of the con-
federation, 156; decadence of tlie
confederation, 169 ; m the hands of
the Lords of Trade, 173 ; in Queen
Anne's War, 255; in King
George's War, 255, 256; ideas of
versus Virjjinia ideas, 280, 281.
New England, Council for, char-
tered, 60.
Newfouiidland, Spaniards at, 28;
early European fishermen at, 36,
37> 40, 52 ; early French visits, 32,
33; cl.iimed by England, 44; i'alti-
more's colony, 8t ; intercolonial
relations, 234, 235 ; in King W il-
liam's War, 254 ; historical skctcli,
241,242,244.
New France, founded, 36; Louis
XIV. '3 policy towards, 49, 50;
Champlain fights the Iroquois,
196 ; early settlements of, 246, 247 ;
exploration of the Northwest,
247-249; ambition for territorial
aggrandizement, 15^ ; contests with
the English, 220, 234, 252-254,274,
275i 277, 278; in Queen Anne's
War, 254, 255 ; in King George's
War, 255, 256 ; boundary disputes
with English, 256 ; line of frontier
forts, 256; struggle for the Ohio
valley, 257; social and political
conditions of, 249-252 ; general
characteristics, 249, 257, 25S;
causes of decline, 49, 50.
New Hampshire, IVIason's grant,
150, 152, 173, 277 ; early coloniz-
ing efforts, 152, 153; soil, 179;
manufactures, 184 ; agriculture,
186; characteristics, 153; popula-
tion (1700), 180, (1754) 265; an-
nexed by Massachusetts, 61, 153,
173 ; becomes a royal province, 61,
i53i i74» 277; reunited to Massa-
chusetts, 153, 174; rule of Andros,
175; under William and Mary,
177 ; in King William's War, 254 ;
Bellomonl's term, 276; boundary
disputes, 268 ; represented is sec-
ond colonial congress, 270.
New Haven, founded, 144-146, 163 ;
NEW
false '* Blue Laws," 146; joins
New England Confederation, 156;
in war with New Netherlands,
163; treatment of Quakers, 166;
shelters the regicides, 167 ; ab-
sorbed by Connecticut, 146, 168,
169; condition in 1700, 186; Yale
College founded, 188; Tory ele-
ment in, 189.
New Jersey, early mining, 6; visited
by Gomez, 28 ; early settlements,
199, 210-212; covets Delaware,
210; the two Jersevs, 212, 213;
reunited as a roval province, 207,
213,214: claimed by New York,
205; general characteristics, 214;
election of county judges, 59, 60 ;
geography, 219 ; social distinctions,
222-224; occupations, 224, 225;
trade and commerce, 225, 226;
life cind manners, 227-229; educa-
tion, 229; religion, 230; political
conditions, 231, 282; Hellomont'a
term, 276; Indian affairs, 277,
282; population(i7oo), 221, (1750*
2^)5.
New Mexico, aborigines of, 8;
Spanish explorations, 28-30 ; Span-
ish colonies, 31, 32.
New Netiierland, settlement of,
196-198; progress, r>8-202 ; Puri-
tan encroachments, 162-164 ; set-
tlements on the Delaware, 207-
209; conquered by England, 168,
202, 203, 2tO-2I2.
New Netherlands Company, 197.
New Orleans, founded, 248, 256.
Newport, R. I., old mill at, 23;
settled, 147 ; unites with Ports-
mouth, 148; chartered, 149.
New Spain. See Mexico.
New Sweden, its rise and fall, 201,
202, 20S, 209 See Swedes.
New York, early mining, 6 ; geo-
graphy, 218-220; social classes,
222-224 ; occupations, 224, 225 ;
trade and commerce, 77, 140, 185,
225,226; fur-trade, 24S-250; life
and manners, 226-229 : education,
229; religion, 229, 230; crime and
pauperism, 230, 231 ; political con-
ditions, 231, 232, 282 ; Indian af-
fairs, 277 ; the Dutch regime, 196-
202 ; captured by English, 202,
203; the ''duke's laws," 204;
recaptured by Dutch, 205 ; Eng-
land again in possession, 205 ; tho
296
htdex.
NEW
rule of Andros, 205, 206, 213 ; the
charter of liberties, 205 ; Leisler's
revolution, 206 ; French designs
on, 253 ; in King William's War,
253> 254; in Queen Anne's War,
255; Bellomont's term, 276; co-
lonial congress, 270, 271 ; boundary
disputes, 267, 268 ; population,
(1690) 253, (1700) 220, 221, (1750)
265 ; characteristics, 207.
New York City, founded by the
Dutch, 198; early commerce, 226 ;
characteristics, 227, 228; education
in, 229; political spirit in, 282.
Nicholson, Sir Francis, governor of
Virginia, 79, 80, 81, 273 ; deputy-
governor of New York, 206.
Normans, American discoveries by,
21,180; early at Newfoundland,
26, 49, 241.
North Carolina, aborigines of, 11 ;
Raleigh's colonies, 38, 40; named
in London Company's charter,
66; origin of, 88,90; first settle-
ments, 92, 93 ; Culpeper rebellion,
92 ; character of colonists, 97 ; their
turbulent spirit, 273, 280, 281 ; oc-
cupations, 102 ; agriculture, 103 ;
religion, 108, 109 ; mountains of,
1 79 ; becomes a royal province, 267;
boundary established, 268; Indian
affairs, 277 ; Oglethorpe's expedi-
tion, 278 ; influence of Virginian
ideas, 2S0 ; population (1763), 266.
North Virginia Company. See
Plymouth Company.
Norwegians, in Iceland, 21.
Nova Scotia, early French settle-
ment, 35, 36; Claiborne's trade
with, 77 ; intercolonial relations,
234, 235 ; French-English strug-
les, 252; in King William's War,
253, 254 : in Queen Anne's War,
255; removal of the Acadians,
243 ; general history, 242-244.
OCRAKOKE inlet, English col-
ony on, 38.
Oglethorpe, Jarnes, character, 25c/;
founds Georgia, 259, 260; cam-
paign against Florida Spaniards,
262, 269, 278.
Ohio Company, its colonization
efforts, 283.
Oneida Indians, 10, 11.
Onondaga Indians, 10, n.
Oregon, aborigines of, 12.
PEQ
PACIFIC ocean, crossed by pre-
historic vessels, 2 ; effect on
American exploration, 26,27,70;
discovery by Balboa, 26.
— slope, north-shore flora, 2 ; diffi-
culties of colonizing, 3 ; geography,
3, 4, 6, 7; early Spanish explora-
tions, 28, 29; Spanish missions,
31 ; Drake's explorations, 37,
Palatinate War. ^^^ King William's
War
Palatines, in Pennsylvania, 230.
Paper money, governors oppose its
issue, 272-274, 278, 289.
Parish, the, in England, 55,57; in
the South, 56.
Patroon system, in New York, 198-
200 ; in Delaware, 207, 208.
Pawtuxet, R. I., founded, 160; the
Gorton case, 160, i6r.
Penn Charter School, founded, 229.
Penn, William, secures grant of
Delaware, 210; interested in New
Jersey, 212, 213, 215; secures
grant of Pennsylvania, 215; his
government, 216 ; relations with
Indians, 216, 217; boundary dis-
putes with Maryland, 86 ; on
American climate, 220 ; supported
by aristocrats, 224 ; introduces
physicians, 225 ; imports Germans,
230 ; plan for colonial union, 270 ;
death, 217; his heirs resist taxa-
tion of their lands, 273, 274.
— , Admiral Sir William, father of
foregoing, 215, 240.
Pennsylvania, settlements, 208, 209,
215; geography, 219; social
classes. 222-224 ', occupations, 224,
225 ; trade and commerce, 225,
226; life and manners, 227-229;
education, 229 ; religion, 108, 229,
230; crime and pauperism, 231;
political conditions, 232, 280, 281 ;
annexation of Delaware, 210, 216;
Penn's constitution and laws, 216;
development, 216, 217 ; witchcraft
delusion, 192 ; boundary disputes,
86, 268 ; disagreement between
governor and assembly, 273,274;
Indian affairs, 170, 277; paper
money, 278; characteristics, 217;
influence of Virginia ideas, 280 ;
population (1700), 221, 222, (1750)
265, 266.
Pequod Indians, uprising of, 136,
137, 140-142.
Index.
297
PHI
PhJladelphia, first medical school,
184; commerce, 185,226; first in-
sane hospital, 231 ; arrival of
Scotch, 26c) ; characteristics, 228.
Philip II., king of Spain, 34.
Philip's War, in New England, 169-
172, 188. _
Phipps, Sir William, governor of
Massachusetts!, 177, 275, 276 ; cap-
tures Port Royal, 254.
Pilgrims, their staying qualities, 43 ;
in Holland, 115-117; voyage of
"Mayflower," 117, iiS; settle-
ment of Plymouth, 118-120; land-
grant on the Hudson, 197.
Piracy, English, on Spanish com-
merce, 91 ; in New York, 206,
207 ; in tiie West Indies, 239,240;
in Virginia, 273 ; in Riiode Island,
276.
Plantation, as a political unit, 56, 73.
Plymouth, England, seat of Plymouth
Company, 41,66, 113, 150, 152.
Plymouth Colony, settled, 116-120,
144; development, 120-124; char-
acteristics, 123, 124, 139 ; mar-
riages in, 132; Williams at, 132;
fur-trade on the Connecticut, 140 ;
in the Gorton case, 160 ; treatment
of Quakers, 166 ; receives royal
commissioners, 169 ; Indian affairs,
170-172; joins the confederation,
156; rule of Andros, 175; ship-
building, 185 ; merged in Massa-
chusetts, 124, 176; lesson of the
colony, 53.
Plymouth Company, chartered, 66 ;
Baltimore a councillor, 81 ; south-
ern boundary, 82 ; relations with
New Englanders, 120, 122, 124 ;
sends out Popham colony, 113;
reorganizes, 114; grant to Massa-
chusetts Bay Company, 125 ; grant
to Brook and Say and Sele, 141 ;
surrenders its charter, 131, 150,
Pokanoket Indians, relations with
Plymouth, 121, 170.
Poor whites, genesis of, 74, 100, no.
Popham, George, heads the Popham
colony, 113.
— , Sir John, interest in American
colonization, 66, 113.
Population, of Indian tribes, 9-1 1,
15 ; excess of, in Europe, 50, 53,
65; of Virginia (1650-1670), 76,
(1697) 81 ; of the South generally
PUR
(168S), 97; of Pennsylvania and
Delaware (1700), 221, 222; of the
Jerseys (1700), 221 ; of New York
(1674), 205, (1690) 253, (1700) 220,
221; of Connecticut {1636), 141;
of Rhode Island (1638), 147 ; of
Plymouth (1643), 121; of Massa-
chusetts (1634), 129; of New Eng-
land generally (1690), 253, (1700)
180; of the English colonies gen-
erally ( 1 700-1 750), 265, 266; of
New France (1690), 253.
Portage paths, situation and import-
ance of, 4 ; Indian villages on,
Port Royal, Nova Scotia, founded,
36, 48 ; captured by English, 242,
243, 252, 254, 27S.
— , S. C., founded by Huguenots^
33,93; destroyed by Spanish, 93,
94-
Portsmouth, N. H., founded, 152,
153 ; Tory element at, 189.
— , R. I., founded, 147; declaration,
147, 148; chartered, 149.
Portuguese, early expli;rations of, 24,
25, 27 ; Alexander's bull of parti-
tion and the, 24 ; fishing colony at
Newfoundland, 26. 37, 241 ; South
American colonies of the, 44 ;
colonial policy of, 48 ; overpopula-
tion, 50; trade with New Eng-
land, 185.
Presbyterians, in England, 115; in
Scotland, 115, 132, 161; on the
Continent, 115; in Virginia, 108;
in Massachusetts, 161, 162 ; in
Pennsylvania and Delaware, 221 ;
in middle colonies generally, 230 j
in the Shenandoah valley, 269.
Providence, R. I., founded, 133, 146 ;
religious disturbances at, 148, 159;
union with Rhode Island, 147 ; the
compact, 147; chartered, 148, 149;
population (1638), 147.
— , Md., former name for Annapolis,
Pueblo Indians, status, 8 ; visited by
Spaniards, 29, 30; Spanish mis-
sions among, 31, 32.
Puritans, definition of term, 115 ; in
Holland, 115, 117; motive of emi-
gration to America, 46 ; settle New
England, 1 16-140; gain ascen-
dency over Massachusetts Presby-
terians, 162 ; rise to power in
England, 169 ; in Virginia, ^^-^^
298
Index,
QUA
SHR
108 ; in South Carolina, 109 ; in
Maryland, 84-87 ; in middle colo-
nies, 230.
QUAKERS, in Carolina, 89, 91,
95 ; in Virginia, 108 ; in Mary-
land, 86 ; in Pennsylvania and
Delaware, 210, 215-217, 221-225,
227, 230-232, 274, 277, 281 ; in the
Jerseys, 212, 213, 221 ; in New
England, 165, 166, 169.
Quebec, Cartier at, 32; founded by
Champlain, 36, 48, 155, 246; capi-
tal of New France, 251 ; captured
by English, 252."
Queen Anne's War, 254, 255, 277,
278.
RADISSON, Sieur, early French
explorer, 247, 248.
Raleigh, Sir Walter, interest in
American colonization, 37-40, 52,
65, 68. 88 ; resists the Armada,
40.
Randolph, Edward, collector at Bos-
ton, 173, 174.
Representation, colonial practice of,
62 ; in Virginia, 73 ; in Maryland,
83, 84; in Pennsylvania, 216; in
New Jersey, 211, 212, 214; in
New Netherlands, 200, 201, 223 ;
in New York, 204 206 ; in Con-
necticut, 143, 145 ; in Plymouth,
123; in Massachusetts, 62, 128,.
129 ; the Watertown case, 128.
Rhode Island, founded, 133, 135,
146-150; chartered, 61, i68 ; reli-
gious disturbances, 148, 149, 159-
161, 189, 190, 194 ; Mrs. Hutchin-
son in, 135; treatment of Quakers,
165, 166; litigation, 182; trade,
186; education, 188; union of col-
onies as Providence Plantations,
148 ; not permitted to join the
confederation, 157; charter trou-
bles, 175, 177, 266, 267 ; boundary
disputes, 267, 268 ; represented in
second colonial congress, 270; Bel-
lomont's visit, 276; Indian affairs,
277 ; population (1700), 180 ; char-
acteristics, 49, 50.
Ridge Hermits, in Pennsylvania,
230*
Rensselaerswyck, N. Y., founded,
199.
Roanoke Island, Raleigh's co\oD)
on, 38-40, 88, 119.
Roberval, Jean Francois de, attempt
at French colonization, 32, 33.
Rocky Mountains, a barrier to colo-
nization, 3 ; exploration of, 4 ; geog-
raphy of, 6, 7 ; aborigines of, 8, 9,
12.
Ryswick, treaty of, 244, 254.
SABLE, Isle of, early French cfilo-
nies on, 35.
Saint-Lusson, Sieur de, early French
explorer, 248.
Salem, Mass., founded, 125, 126;
divides, 127 ; Williams at, 132,
133; witchcraft delusion at, 190-
192.
Salzburgers, in Georgia, 26c, 261.
San Francisco, harbor of, 3; founded,
31-
Santa F^, N. Mex., founded, 31, 32.
Sault Ste. Marie, early P>ench vis-
its to, 247, 248 ; French settlement
at, 253.
Savannah, Ga., founded, 258.
Say and Sele, Lord, attempts to in-
troduce hereditary rank, 59, 129;
Connecticut land-grant to, 141.
Saybrook, Conn., founded, 136, 137,
141, 164; raided by Indians, 137.
Scandinavians, pre-Columbian dis-
coveries of, 21-23; on the Dela-
ware, 51.
Schenectady, N. Y., sacked by
French and Indians, 206.
Schuylkill River, conflicts between
Dutch and English on, 200-202.
Scotch, in Carolina, 93 ; in the Jer-
seys, 21 1, 213, 221.
Scotch-Irish, in Georgia, 261, 263 ;
in North Carolina, 97 ; in Vir-
ginia, 108; in Shenandoah valley,
269 ; in Pennsylvania and Dela-
ware, 221, 222; in New England,
180; in Nova Scotia, 242.
Seminoles, status of, n.
Seneca Indians, status of, 10, n.
Sewall, Samuel, denounces slavery,
182; in witchcraft trials, 191, 192.
Shenandoah valley, a home for Scotch
Presbyterians, 269.
Ship-building in I^ew England, 146,
185 ; Block's vessel, 196 ; in Penn-
sylvania, 226.
Shrewsbury, N. J., founded, 211.
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Index,
299
SIO
Sioux Indians. See Dakotahs.
Six Nations. See Iroquois.
Slavery, in Qporfrja ^ -^fiy ^ 7(^ -1^ •- in
South Carolina, _Q9 . in vir!j;inia.
74, Hi, 99; in tIie~Soiuh generally,
9 ?s, 99, "Tq-^. 110; in the middle
colonies, 22^. 224 ; in New Eng-
land, i; 8^ no. 182, iSt: ^ in Illinois,
192; iri the West Indies, 234, 23 9-
Smitli, Capt. John, attempts to
reach the Pacific, 26 ; member of
the London Company, 56 ; expe-
riences at Jamestown, 70-72; voy-
age to New England, ii;; _ 114, 150.
Society for the Propagation of tiie
Gospel, work in South Carolina,
102 ; in New York, 229 ; in Geor-
gia, 260.
Somers, Sir George, member of
London Company, 66, 69, 72 ; at
Bermudas, 238.
Somers's Islands. See Bermudas.
Sothel, Seth, governor of North
Carolina, 92,93; of South Caro-
lina, 94.
South Carolina as Chicora, 27 ; set-
tlement of, 90; landed estates in,
58; occupations, 102; religion,
102, 109; trade, 102, 261, social
life, 107 ; becomes a royal prov-
ince, 267 : boundary established,
268; Indian affairs, 277, Ogle-
thorpe's expedition, 278; influence
of Virginia ideas, 2S0 ; political
condition, 281 ; population (1763),
266.
Southern Indians, status of, 9, 11.
Southold, L. I , founded, 145.
Spaniards, conquest of RIexico and
Peru, 8, II ; treatment of Indians,
17; early American discoveries,
23, 24; the bull of partition, 24,
36 ; fishermen at Newfoundland,
25, 37; exploration of American
interior, 27-31; their American
colonies, 26, 31, 32, 88; character
of those colonies, 42, 43 ; conflicts
with France, 32, 34, 93, 94 ; influ-
ence on English court, 36; con-
flicts with English, 38, 39, 237,
239-241, 244; war with Holland,
I )'i ; the Armada, 40; their colo-
nial policy, 47, 48; overpopulation
in Spain, 50; causes of failure of
North American colonies, 42-44 ;
trade with New England, 185;
TOW
conflicts with Georgia, 259-262,
27X.
St. Augustine, Fla., founded, 32, 34,
(H; in Oglethorpe's campaign, 259,
261.
St. Christopher, Leeward Islands,
237i 238.
St. John's, Newfoundland, early
fisheries at, 37.
St. Lawrence Kiver, gateway to con-
tinental interior, 4, 248; explored
by Cartier, 32 ; by Champlain, 35,
36 French claims on, 43, 255, 256 ;
settlements on. 246, 249, 250, 253.
St. Lucia, Windward Islands, 237
St. Mary's, Md., founded, 82, 83,
as the capital, 84. 87, 98.
St. Vincent, in Windward Islands,
237-
Stamford, Conn., founded, 145.
Stougliton, William, lieutenant-gov-
ernor of Massachusetts, 181 ; in
witchcraft trials, 191
Stuyvesant, Peter, governor of New
Netherlands, 163, 200, 201, 202,
203, 209.
Suffrage in judicial elections, 59 ;
general qualifications, 61, 62; in
Maryland, 86, in New Jersey,
213, 214; in New Netherlands,
200 ; in New York, 204, 205 ; in
Connecticut, 143 ; in Massachu-
setts, 12S, 167, 173, 176; in New
England generally, 193.
*' Susan Constant," the, carries col*
onists to Virginia, 69.
Swedes, colonial policy of the, 51 ;
career of New Sweden, 201, 202,
208, 209; in Pennsylvania and
Delaware, 208-2 10, 215, 217, 221,
222 ; in New Jersey, 211, 221.
Swiss, in North Carolina, 97.
TARRATINE Indians, uprising
in Maine, 188.
Tennessee, character of early set-
tlers, 269, 283.
Texas, early Spanish exploration of,
28.
Tinicum, island of, seat of Swedish
government in America, 208, 215
Tobago, Windward Islands, 237.
Town, the, in England, 55 ; in New
England, 57, 62, 139, 140, 192,
193 ; in the middle colonies, 57,
204; 216.
300
Index,
TRE
Trenton, N. J., characteristics, 228.
Trinidad, Windward Islands, 237.
Tuscarora Indians, join the Five
Nations, 11.
UNDERHILL, John, in Pe-
quod War, 137.
Union, schemes for colonial, New
England Confederation, 155-158;
first colonial congress, 80, 206, 270 ;
governmental plans, 267, 270; sec-
ond congress, 27c, 271.
Usselinx, WiJlem, founds South
Company of Sweden, 208.
Utah, aborigines of, 12
Utrecht, treaty of, 241-243, 255, 256.
VACA, Cabeza de, in Narvaez's
expedition, 28, 29.
Vane, Sir Henry, governor of Massa-
chusetts, 129, 134, 135.
Van Rensselaer family, 199, 223.
Vermont, soil, 179; becomes a State,
268.
Verrazano, John, on the American
coast, 32, 41.
Virginia, named by Raleigh, 38 ;
Raleigh's land grants, 40 ; causes
of early failures in colonizing, 41-
44 ; geography, 96 ; settlement,
69-75 5 character of colonists, 97,
114; landed estates, 58; judiciary,
60; suffrage, 61, 62; first assem-
bly, 62; first charter, 66-69, 70,
113 ; second charter, 72 ; develop-
ment, 75-81 ; becomes a royal prov-
ince, 74; Bacon's rebellion, 78,
79, 90 ; occupations, 102 ; com-
merce, 103, 104; education, 107,
108; religion, 108, witch-duck-
ing, 192; conflicts with Dutch,
197, 200; Walloons rejected, 198 ;
piracy, 273 ; Spotswood's term,
269 ; Nicholson's term, 273 ; in-
cludes Bermudas, 238 ; Virginia
ideas versiis New England ideas,
280 ; reaching out to the West, 67,
283; population {1688), 97, (1763)
266.
" Virginia," the early New England
pinnace, 185.
Virgin Islands, Leeward group, 237,
238.
WIN
WALFORD, Thomas, settles at
Charlestown, 122.
Walloons, settle in New Nether-
lands, 198, 201 ; in Delaware, 207,
208.
Warwick, Earl of, interest in Ameri-
can colonization, 37; president of
Council for New England, 141,
158.
— , R. I., founded, 148 ; Gorton
case, 160.
Washington, George, education of,
108; opinion of Bermudas, 239.
Watertown, Mass., founded, 127;
protest against taxation without
representation, 62, 128 ; emigration
to Connecticut, 140.
Welsh, American discoveries by, 21 ;
in New England, 180 ; in Penn-
sylvania and Delaware, 217, 221.
Wesley, Charles, in Georgia, 262.
■ — , John, in Georgia, 262.
West Indies, aborigines of, 8 ; Span-
ish conquest of, 43, 47; Spanish
commerce, 39 : piracy, 34 ; Portu-
guese in, 48; Dutch in, 50; trade
with Southern colonies, 102, 104 ;
trade with New England, 185 ;
trade with middle colonies, 226;
intercolonial lelations, 234, 235.
West Jersey, 212-214, 216, 221.
Westminster, treaty of, 205.
Wethersfield, Conn., founded, 141 ',
sacked by Indians, 137.
Weymouth, George, explores New
England coast, 41, 65.
Whitefield, George, revival work,
190, 262.
William III., king of England, 206,
253-
— and Mary, sovereigns of Eng-
land, proclaimed in the colonies,
87, 176-
William and Mary college, chartered,
80, 8r, 103.
Williams, Roger, character, 132 ; at
Salem, 132, 133 ; founds Provi-
dence, 133, 146, 147, 149, 160; ser-
vices in Pequod War, 136 ; attitude
towards Quakers, 165.
Williamsburg, capital of Virginia, 81,
98. _
Wilmington, Del., founded. 201, 208.
— , N. C, e«rly French visit to^
32-
Windsor, Conn., founded, 136, 1371
140, 141.
Index,
301
WIN
Windward Islands, English colonies,
236, 237.
Wingfield, Edward Maria, member
of London Company, 66 ; presi-
dent of Jamestown, 70.
Winslow, Edward, London agent of
Massachusetts, 131, 132 ; in the
Gorton case, 160 ; expression of
colonial independence, 161.
Winlhrop, John, governor of Massa-
chusetts, 127, 129, 135, 138, 156;
expression of colonial indepen-
dence, 161.
— , John, Jr., founds Saybrook, 136,
141 ; governor of Connecticut, 143 ;
London agent of Connecticut, 168.
Wisconsin, canoe portages in, 4 ; ab-
origines of, 12; discovered by
Nicoletj 26 ; early French explo-
rations m, 247, 248.
ZUN
^itchcr af^ del usion, at S^^lym. lo o-
ic|2, IJj,j jelafiMaifiJter'i^^ay-*^*^
Wocoken, island /of, English colony
on, 38, 88.
YALE COLLEGE, founded, 80,
188.
Yeanians, Sir John, leads colony to
Carolina, 8g, 237 ; governor of
South Carolina, 93.
York, Duke of, proprietor of New
York, 203, 210-212; becomes
James II., 205, 206, 213; grants
Delaware to Pennsylvania, 216.
ZUNI Indians,
iards, 29, 30.
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